The Daring Cooks’ April 2012 Challenge – Create Your Own Recipe

April 15, 2012 By 5 Comments

With our diet plan for January, February, and March, we haven’t had a great opportunity to do our Daring Kitchen Challenges this year.  We are very excited to get back in the mix and take up the challenge for the rest of the year.

Our April 2012 Daring Cooks hosts were David & Karen from Twenty-Fingered Cooking. They presented us with a very daring and unique challenge of forming our own recipes by using a set list of ingredients!

As part of the challenge, we were required to pick one ingredient each from three lists:

List 1: Parsnips, Eggplant (aubergine), Cauliflower
List 2: Balsamic Vinegar, Goat Cheese, Chipotle Peppers
List 3: Maple Syrup, Instant Coffee, Bananas

I chose to use parsnips, chipotle peppers, and instant coffee to create a Coffee Rubbed BBQ Sandwich with Chipotle BBQ Sauce and Apple Parsnip Slaw.

Coffee Rubbed Beef BBQ Sandwich with Chipotle BBQ Sauce and Apple Parsnip Slaw

The combination of sweet and spicy made this a sandwich that you would go back to over and over again.  So yummy!

Ingredients

2 Tbsp instant coffee
2 Tbsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp sweet paprika
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 eye of round steaks
Chipotle BBQ Sauce (recipe follows)
Apple Parsnip Slaw (recipe follows)
8 sandwich rolls

Directions

 Combine first 7 ingredients (through onion powder) and coat steaks liberally.  Place into a zip top bag and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.  Pull steaks out about 30 minutes before cooking to allow them to come to room temperature.

Heat one side of a grill on medium-high heat and the other on low heat.  Sear steaks over medium-high heat about 5 minutes on each side.  Move to the low heat side and cook for another 30-45 minutes or until meat is cooked through and indents when you push it.

During the last 10 minutes of cooking, baste the meat with the Chipotle BBQ Sauce, flipping and basting at least 3 times per side.  Allow to rest 10 minutes before slicing thinly.

To serve, place a small pile of meat on a sandwich bun and top with sauce and Apple Parsnip Slaw.  Enjoy!

Chipotle BBQ Sauce

You can add more or less of the chipotle or adobo depending upon how spicy you like your sauce.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 chipotle peppers, chopped
1 Tbsp adobo sauce
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions

Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add onion and sautee 3-4 minutes.  Add garlic, salt, pepper, and chipotles and sautee another 3-4 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients, turn heat down to low, and cook for 10 minutes.  Pour into a blender and puree sauce.  Return to heat and keep warm until ready to use.

 

Apple Parsnip Slaw

My tip:  Mix all of the dressing ingredients together before shredding the apple so that they don’t turn brown!

Ingredients

1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste
2 tart apples (Fuji, Granny Smith, etc), shredded
3 medium parsnips, shredded

Directions

Combine first five ingredients.  Mix well.  Combine apples and parsnips and coat well with the dressing mixture.  Refrigerate or allow to sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes to allow flavors to develop.

 

Have you ever created a recipe?  Given those lists of ingredients, what creations could put together?  Leave us a comment and let us know!

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Meatless Monday: Vegetarian Tapas

April 9, 2012 By 1 Comment

We are all about keeping our dinners simple, affordable, and tasty.  On the other hand, I’m still just a big kid who still likes to play with his food.  Sometimes, experimenting with new flavors or new types of food can really negate these factors (especially the tasty part).  This especially becomes a problem when, like me, you come from a household that adores meat and are now trying out meatless recipes.  These tapas are a great simple way to experiment a little, without all of the fuss.

The word tapas comes from the Spanish verb tapar, “to cover.”  The idea is that a piece of bread or meat or even a plate would be set on top of a glass of wine to keep stuff out of the wine.  These “covers” could then hold various other foods, leading to a long tradition of Spanish cuisine.  Our offerings today are quite easy and could even be accompanied by a small meat tapas for those individuals who “could never have a meal without meat.”

Below you can see, from left to right, a Spinach Artichoke Dip, Patatas Alioli (Potatoes with Garlic Mayonaisse), and Deviled Eggs.  We purchased the dip at the local big box store.  You could make your own, but this is all about being simple, right?  The Deviled Eggs…well, it’s after Easter right?  Most of us have a Deviled Egg recipe looming somewhere or can easily find one.  That will have to be another post.  The potatoes, however, were so good that I just have to include a recipe.

Patatas Alioli or Potatoes with Garlic Mayonnaise

This dish is a pretty traditional tapas and couldn’t be easier to put together.  We used fingerling potatoes, making it easy just to cut round little knobs, but you could easily cut a larger potato into long quarters and cut chunks from there.  Just use what you have.  Making the alioli can be tricky.  Whisking can make your arm tired, but get the hand blender going too fast and you’ll just have an oily mess (trust me on this one!).  If  you like more garlic, feel free to add more.

Ingredients

4-6 Cups potatoes, cut into 1/2-3/4 inch chunks
oil for frying
salt

2-3 large garlic cloves
1 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
1 Cup olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

Directions

Over medium-high heat, heat about an inch and a half of oil in a large skillet (make sure not to come up over half-way up the sides or you might spill over when the potatoes go in).  When the oil is hot (a potato fries immediately when inserted), add one layer of potatoes.  Fry for about 10 minutes or until the insides are fluffy when opened up.  Drain on paper towels and salt immediately after pulling them from the oil.

For the alioli, press or mash the garlic into a paste using the salt.  Add to a large bowl with egg yolks and whisk until well combined.  Slowly add the olive oil, whisking the whole time.  Add little bits at first, making sure that they are fully incorporated before adding more.  As you near the end, you can add larger quantities, but never more than 1/8 Cup at a time.

Serve the alioli on the side of the potatoes or fold the potatoes into the sauce in the traditional fashion.  Enjoy!

Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

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COOL WHIP Mint Chocolate Trifle Recipe

April 3, 2012 By 13 Comments


 

COOL WHIP Whipped Topping and trifles are like a peanut butter and jelly to me. They go together perfectly.

I was planning a dessert for Brian’s Mom’s belated birthday celebration. I was thinking about a cake and then I decided I wanted to make a trifle. I asked Brian what his mom’s favorite dessert was and he had no idea. (Reminder to myself: make sure all of my kids know that anything with chocolate is good with their mother!) So I decided to make the decision on the dessert. For some reason, I decided on chocolate mint dessert. I started looking online for a chocolate min trifle and couldn’t find one. So I started scheming with the disclaimer that I don’t normally make recipes but I knew I could do this. I had grand ideas of mint syrup and chopped up mints … I had about a million ideas in my head. Then I stopped and decided to keep it simple. So here is a beyond simple COOL WHIP Mint Chocolate Trifle!

Keeping with the simple theme, the ingredients are simple too and very few. So just buy two tubs of COOL WHIP, a Devil’s Food cake mix, Mint Oreos, mint extract, and fresh mint (optional garnish). Here are the ingredients …

 

Ta-da!!

 

Ingredients

1 Devil’s Food Cake mix prepared as directed on the box (eggs, oil, water)

2 tubs of COOL WHIP

1 package of mint Oreos

1 tsp mint extract

1 sprig of fresh mint

 

Directions

1. Prepare the Devil’s Food cake mix as directed on the box. Let the cake cool completely. Cut the cake into bite sized pieces.

2. Put all of the mint Oreos in a bag and bang the heck out of them so they are little crumbles. (A few big pieces are OK and might need to be sampled!)

3. Add both tubs of COOL WHIP and 1 tsp mint extract in a mixing bowl and stir the extract into the COOL WHIP.

4. Layer the cake in the bottom of a trifle dish (or large bowl) until the bottom of the bowl is covered.

5. Use a spatula to cover the cake layer with the mint COOL WHIP.

6. Sprinkle the crushed mint Oreos over the top of the COOL WHIP layer.

7. Repeat steps 4-6 another 2-3 times depending on the size of your bowl.

8. Place the mint sprig in the top as a garnish.

NOTE: Keep the dessert chilled until it is ready to serve.
Maybe simple really is best! This dessert was loved by all at the birthday celebration and will be added to my trifle recipe collection. Do you love trifles? Would you enjoy a mint chocolate trifle for your birthday? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Sponsored posts are purely editorial content that we are pleased to have presented by a participating sponsor. Advertisers do not produce the content. I was compensated for this post as a member of Clever Girls Collective, but the content is all my own.

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Well, it was a good plan!

March 12, 2012 By 4 Comments

If you’ve paid much attention to our blog this year, you know that Beth and I challenged ourselves with a pretty specific diet plan this year.  We started off going vegan for six weeks, including a three-week detox, and planned to follow that up with six weeks on a vegetarian diet.  Unfortunately, that ended on Tuesday when we both took our first bite of meat for the year.

We have both been craving little bits of meat here and there and we have been more and more concerned about our kids diet.  We just don’t have time to spend cooking up two complete meals each night, so we cook for us, offer them a try and, when they refuse it, they wind up with pizza, chicken nuggets, or hot dogs.  Even our diet, as we moved onto the vegetarian diet, got worse as we started eating more bread and cheese as fillers.  It started to seem pretty counterproductive, so we started to question whether a little bit of lean protein would actually wind up being healthier for us.  We decided that we would begin allowing poultry and seafood, still refraining from beef and pork.

So we took the first dive on Tuesday when biting into a turkey sandwich.  Since then, I’ve hit up Chick-Fil-A once and Beth has yet to have another bite.  It has not become our focus, just another option for eating a healthy meal.  On the one hand, we feel like we failed in our plan.  On the other, we went a full nine weeks without eating a bite of meat.  For these meat lovers, that is quite an accomplishment!

Since making our decision we have looked at our menu plan and we realized that we do not really have to change it at all.  We can add a little chicken to pot pie or nachos or have some sliced turkey on a sub.  We will likely continue this trend in future meal plans.

Did you start a new diet plan this year?  How are you doing with it?  Leave us a comment and let us know what’s going on!

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Meatless Monday: Baked Potatoes

March 5, 2012 By 4 Comments

Ok, so I know that we did Twice Baked Potatoes last week, but potatoes are a great multipurpose staple, and, if you shop on a budget like us, you are likely to buy them in 5-10 pound bags.  Potatoes keep for a while, but not indefinitely, so it’s smart to plan a few meals around them.  This week we made up a batch of baked potatoes.  Need a quick recipe?  Here goes:

1. Wash them
2. Oil them (rub them in some olive oil)
3. Poke them (3 or 4 time with a fork)
4. Salt them
5. Bake them (350 right on the rack for 1 1/2 hours or until they squeeze easily)

Easy, right?  Once they are baked, the sky’s the limit as far as toppings go.  If you want a side or a light meal, simple butter and sour cream can be nice.  If you are looking to make it a full, hearty meal, you can use the basic potato as a vehicle for some of your leftovers.  Here we have a potato with broccoli and cheese sauce (recipe follows) and another with some leftover Chili Soup, the same cheese sauce, and sour cream.  One of the great things about this is that, since we had the oven on anyway, we just baked up about 10 potatoes.  We had whatever we were having for dinner, leaving plenty of easy to microwave potatoes for quick lunches later in the week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheese Sauce

This sauce starts with a bechamel (one of the French “mother sauces” that so many other sauces are based off of).  Learning to make this sauce gives you some basic techniques that you can use for future dishes.  This is the same cheese sauce you would use for Mac & Cheese!  If you find it to be a little thick, add more milk.  Not cheesy enough…well, you know what to do!

Ingredients

2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Directions

Melt butter over medium-high heat.  Add flour stirring continuously for 2-3 minutes or until paste cooks a bit, but is not browning (this part is making a roux and takes some practice to get just right!).

Add milk, stirring constantly and bringing it to a boil.  Lower heat, add salt and pepper, and let cook for 2-3 more minutes.  (Stop here for a bechamel, continue for cheese sauce)

Add cheese and melt thoroughly.  Adjust seasoning and remove from heat.

We hope that you enjoy!  Let us know how it turns out!

Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

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Meatless Monday: Twice Baked Potatoes

February 27, 2012 By 2 Comments

Sometimes going meatless doesn’t mean doing anything particularly fancy or outside of the box.  It can mean taking a basic, well-loved recipe and simply removing a small part of it.  This is what we did this week with twice-baked potatoes.  Usually, when we make these, we include cooked bacon when we mix it all together, but leaving it out does not really affect the final product too much.

These tasty dinners are terribly simple to put together.  Basically, you bake a couple of potatoes at 350 for an hour or so until you can squeeze them and they give a little.  You cut them in half, scoop out most of the insides, and make mashed potatoes with whatever fillings you want (milk, sour cream, butter, cheese, chives, green onions, etc are the basics, but you could experiment with whatever).  You fill up the shell, toss them back into the oven and bake for another 20 minutes or so.  Let them cool a bit, serve with a side salad, and voila, dinner is served.

 

There are literally hundreds of recipes out there.  This one from Betty Crocker is a classic and a great vegetarian option.  For our vegan readers, try this version from The Veggie Gal.  This was the one that we tried out (without the vegan bacon bits).  The whole family enjoyed.

We hope that you try this out and enjoy it too!

Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

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Are you prepared?

February 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This past week, The National Geographic Channel began airing episodes of Doomsday Preppers.  This show speaks directly to my slightly paranoid nature.  The people showcased, however, take my slight paranoia to a whole other level.  From houses built out of shipping containers to people preparing for an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that will wipe out the power grid, these individuals have made disaster preparedness a lifestyle.  While I’m nowhere near that dedicated to the effort, the show does get you thinking.  As a dad, one of my primary functions is to ensure the safety of my family.  If we have a huge snowstorm or an earthquake that shuts down power and/or transportation for an extended period of time, how do I protect and provide for my wife and little ones?

Thankfully, there are resources available to help.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has a site to help you prepare an emergency readiness kit.  Probably the most important things on the list (and the two that are listed first) are water and an emergency food supply.  The site states that you should have one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days and a 72-hour supply of non-perishable food.  I know that I have enough food around the house, but I also know that our water supply is not enough for the family.  I should definitely stock up a little.

Have you seen this show yet?  What steps have you taken to prepare yourself in the event that disaster strikes?  Leave us a comment and let us know your thoughts.

 

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Friday Favorite: Skippy Natural Peanut Butter

January 20, 2012 By 1 Comment

Friday Favorites is another almost weekly feature here at Simply Budgeted. The whole point of this feature is to share some of our favorite finds. Anything is game. Food. Cleaning supplies. Kid stuff. Garden favorites. Recipes. Anything that I really like and want to randomly post about.

Reminder/Disclaimer/Whatever: Everything in Friday Favorites is something that we use and bought on our own.

 

Skippy Peanut Butter

Description …

Ingredients
Roasted Peanuts, Sugar, Palm Oil, Salt.

Skippy natural creamy peanut butter spread is a 100% natural peanut butter spread your kids will love. Great taste comes naturally–spread the great taste of this creamy, delicious peanut butter, and skip the stirring. It has no preservatives, artificial flavors, or colors and creates no oily mess–just the perfect spread for your kids.

Our Thoughts …

We have been eating our vegan detox meal plan this month. I have been missing a lot of my favorite foods (and cookies). I realized early on that peanut butter was ok. My go to snack has been apples with peanut butter. I have gotten to the point where I crave my apples with peanut butter. I have always loved peanut butter anything so that wasn’t a challenge for me. Not eating my cookies has been a big challenge though. Thankfully my peanut butter has kept me going!

Amazon has a great deal on a 6 pack right now and it even has a Subscribe and Save option to save even more. (You can sign up and cancel.) (We have been buying the double pack at Sam’s Club.)

 


What is your favorite peanut butter snack? Leave us a comment and let us know!

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Turkey Leftovers: Pot Pie and Enchilasagna

December 29, 2011 By 8 Comments

Some people do ham for Christmas, but I’ve always fancied turkey.  Just like with Thanksgiving, though, you always have the problem of what to do with all of the leftover turkey.  You want to use up the turkey, but turkey dinners, turkey sandwiches, and turkey salad can only get you so far.  Here are my simple offerings for cheap, easy ways to completely transform that turkey into a new dish that the entire family will enjoy.  Both of these recipes use 5 ingredients (not counting salt, pepper, and water).  Odds are that you have everything you need to toss together one of these dishes tonight!

 

Turkey Pot Pie

This really couldn’t be simpler.  I used 2 packages of powdered gravy mix and a bag of frozen soup mix (potatoes, carrots, peas, etc).  I prefer the brown gravy, but leftover turkey or chicken gravy works, too.  If you don’t have a pie crust, use a can of biscuits or a batch of baking mix to cover the gravy mix.  The best part has got to be the crust soaking up all of that gravy.  So cheap, but soooo tasty!

Ingredients

2 cups brown gravy, prepared
1-16 oz bag mixed frozen vegetables
2 cups chopped leftover turkey
salt and pepper to taste
1 pre-made refrigerated pie crust
1 egg
1 Tbsp water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix first 4 ingredients in a medium pot over medium heat and warm through for 5-10 minutes.  Pour into a greased, 9-inch, deep dish pie plate.  Cover the dish with the crust and fold the edges in.  Beat the egg with the water and brush over the crust

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.  Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

 

Turkey Enchilasagna

I wanted to make enchiladas, but it had been a long day and rolling everything up seemed like so much work.  We also didn’t have any enchilada sauce, but we always have tomato sauce and spices so I whipped some up using this easy Ten Minute Enchilada Sauce Recipe.  Layering a flat starch product with tomato sauce, meat, and cheese seemed too much like lasagna not to go with the corny little play on words.  Serving it up was actually much easier than enchiladas that I’ve made in the past, so this might start becoming a regular thing around here.

Ingredients

2 cups of Mexican Blend Shredded Cheese
1 6-oz can black olives, chopped
1 can enchilada sauce
8 tortillas
2 cups chopped turkey

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine cheese and olives in a large bowl.

Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of sauce into the bottom of a round casserole.  Layer tortilla, 2-3 tablespoons of sauce, 3-4 tablespoons of turkey, and 3-4 tablespoons of cheese mixture.  Repeat 6 more times.  Top with tortilla, more sauce, and the remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Let cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving with sour cream.

I hope you enjoy these dishes.  I know that I enjoyed making them and that my family loved eating them!  Leave us a comment and let us know what you do with your holiday leftovers.

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Meatless Monday: Slow Cooker Vegetarian Garden Chili

December 5, 2011 By 2 Comments

It’s getting on wintertime and, here in Virginia, it’s starting to get cold.  As such, soup and chili are going to start being staples around our house.  What better way to cook these comforting meals than using that slow cooking crockpot?  Hook it up in the morning and you’re all set for the evening.

For Meatless Monday this week, we decided to make a vegetarian chili.  I’m a pretty big chili fan and this was definitely a challenge for me.  No meat in a chili?  That just doesn’t seem right.  With the meatiness of the mushrooms and beans and a nice kick from the peppers make this a pretty nice substitute. This was also a test run for the adventure in veganism that Beth and I have planned for the beginning of next year.  Wish us luck on that one!

We actually decided to take some pictures of the process this time.  The recipe is below.

It always amazes me that such simple ingredients can come together to make a hearty, filling dish.

You could do just about anything with this mix and it would taste good.

This is what it looks like once you get it all into the crockpot.  Fight the temptation to eat it right now.  It gets better!

MMMMM!!  I added a little too much water, I think, so it’s a little soupy.  That’s ok, though.  The rice soaks it right up!

Topped with some green onions for a little freshness.  The sourdough on the side added a little extra bulk!

Over spaghetti…kind of a Cincinnati style of chili here.  YUM!!

 

Vegetarian Garden Chili

This recipe can be great for weeknight meals.  Just cook up everything in the pan on the weekend and store it in the fridge.  On the morning of your meal day, just pull it out and toss everything in the crockpot.  Make some rice or spaghetti when you get home and everyone should be happy campers.

I did add some jalapenos to the recipe for a touch of a kick.  With my wife and little kiddos, though, I definitely had to watch it.  I just cut a couple of slits into the jalapenos and tossed them into the crockpot whole.  That way I could get some kick, but never risk anyone getting a bite of hotness.  Feel free to adjust as it suits your family’s tastes.  Some other great variations would be to add more tomatoes and/or mushrooms.  Make sure you reduce the amount of water, though.

Ingredients

1 large yellow onion, diced
2 T olive oil
1 leek, thinly sliced
3 ribs of celery, sliced
1 carrot, halved and sliced
1 small zucchini, halved and sliced
1 large green bell pepper, diced
1/2 lb. white mushrooms, quartered
1 1/4 C water
1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes with juice
1  15.5-oz can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 jalapeno peppers, scored
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili power
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Directions

Heat large skillet over medium to medium-high heat.  Add olive oil, onions, and leeks.  Saute for 3-5 minutes until tender.  Add remaining vegetables (through mushrooms) and saute for another 3-5 minutes.

Transfer vegetables into a slow cooker and add remaining ingredients.  Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.  Serve over rice or pasta.

 

We hope you enjoy this Meatless Monday.  Leave us a comment if you enjoy it or let us know what you are having tonight.  If you are interested in Meatless Monday and want to get some more information about joining in the movement at your home, check out this site or send us an email.

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