Starting The New Year Off Right

Here are my recent creations! I also wanted to include some things I do to make recipes healthier and cheaper. Grocery shopping on a budget can be hard, but once you learn a few tricks, you can cut your bill by quite a bit. I'm always open to suggestions on this topic as well!

Money Saving Tips:

*Buy whole carrots, rather than baby carrots, they are ½ the price and are just prettier in dishes than baby carrots

*If you aren’t going to use your bacon right away, or chose to buy it in bulk, freeze it! Either put a few strips into a plastic baggies with a few drops of water and thaw when ready, or freeze it use a sharp knife than you ran under very hot water to slice the bacon crosswise (one slice crosswise is about equal to one regular slice).

*Buy your dry goods in bulk. If you live anywhere near a WINCO, check out their bulk foods section… it will change your life!

*If it is on sale and you use it a lot, stock up. That might be a simple bit of advice, but people rarely do this. Freeze meat, cleaned and cut fruit and veggies, even bread!

*Use broth instead of wine if you aren’t a wine drinker, otherwise you will just waste the lefover wine.

To Make These, Or Any Recipes Healthier:

*Use low fat or fat free dairy products (I almost always do, and my recipes turn out great)

*Always use whole grain options

*Look for meat without much marbling or cut off any extra (the fat is what gives the flavor though, so you don’t want to get rid of all of it, plus a lot of it cooks off anyway)

*Get to know spices, they will add flavor when you take away the fat

*Add less fat! I find most recipes call for more oil or butter than you need. When I am looking at a recipe that seems to call for a lot of butter or oil, I will try using less to see how it works. Often time, it is fine. This does NOT work for baking though, baking is much more exact and you can’t mess around with ingredients like with cooking.

Beef Stew

1/8 c olive oil, plus more for roasting veggies

1 c flour

Salt and Pepper

1 lb stew meat or chuck roast, cubed into 1 in cubes

3/4 c red wine

4 cups chicken broth or beef broth (beef is best, but chicken works too, if that is what you have on hand)

4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

1 c carrots, cut into 1/2 inch slices

1 onion, cut into ½ inch pieces

1c celery, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 small red pepper, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 russet potato (or the equivalent or red, new, or Yukon) cut into ½ to 1 inch pieces

1 sprig of fresh thyme or a dash of the jarred kind

1 dash of cayenne pepper

1 dash of paprika

Preheat oven to 350. Drizzle oil on a baking sheet and spread veggies on pan, season with salt and pepper. Cook in oven until veggies are soft, checking after about 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium high. Season flour with salt and pepper, toss in meat and stir until meat is coated, remove from extra flour, shaking each piece to remove any excess. Carefully place the floured meat in the oil and brown on all sides. Add wine to pot and make sure you scrape the bottom of the pan and get all the yummy cooked on bits off. Cook until wine reduces by half. Add in veggies and stir. Pour in broth and add spices. Stir to combine and reduce to medium. Let simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, until the meat is very soft and the stew is thickened.

Perfect Polenta

I love polenta, but it needs to be creamy and smooth. I have worked on making it perfect for a while, and I am proud to say, I think I have perfected it.

4 c water

1 c dry polenta

3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

1 tbs heavy cream, milk, or half and half (whatever you have on hand)

Up to 2 tsp (Add by ½ tsp and taste after each addition)

Pepper to taste

A handful of good Parmesan

Boil 3 cups of the water in a medium pot. Whisk in polenta and turn down to medium heat. Once polenta begins to thicken, add another ¼ c of the remaining water and stir in quickly, allow to thicken again. Repeat until you have added the remaining cup, stirring frequently. This will help the polenta become soft and creamy. Once all the water is in and the polenta is full cooked (this should take about 20-30 minutes) stir in the garlic, cream, and salt. Season with pepper and toss in the parmesan.

Chicken With Tomato Basil Sauce

This is based on a sauce my mom makes. The Cherry tomatoes are so full of flavor, and it is a really refreshing sauce.

1 tsp olive oil

2-4 chicken breasts (one per person)

½ onion, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

1 and ½ pints cherry tomatoes

¾ c of white or red wine

A handful of fresh basil, chopped

A handful of Parmesan

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high. Season chicken breast with some salt and pepper and cook on each side for about 4 minutes, until browned. Throw in onions and garlic and cook until fragrant and translucent. Add wine and stir. Cook until slightly reduced. Add tomatoes to the pan and simmer until tomatoes begin to burst. Using a fork, stab the tomatoes to pop them. Add basil then add Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve over Perfect Polenta or pasta. Top with a little extra Parmesan if you want.

Heavenly Pasta

It’s part Primavera, part Carbonara and completely divine

3 strips bacon, cut into small pieces

1 small to medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 carrot, peeled and sliced into ½ inch pieces

1 small red pepper, cut into thin slices

½ cup of frozen peas

1 small zucchini, cut in half length wise and then sliced into ¼ inch pieces

1 small head broccoli, cut into small pieces

½ cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped

½ cup white wine

1 tbs butter

1 tbs flour

1 cup milk

2 tbs heavy cream

1 wedge of lemon for juice

A handful of basil, chopped

A handful of Parmesan cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

Dash of paprika

Dash of garlic powder

1 lb penne pasta, cooked and drained

Fry bacon in a large pan or skillet, until just crisp. Using a slotted spoon remove the bacon, leaving the fat behind in the pan. Pour all but a tablespoon of the grease into a jar or can or however you get rid of your grease. Throw in the onions and cook for a minute, then add garlic. Cook until fragrant and translucent, but not too soft. Add the remaining veggies except peas and cook until tender crisp, about 10 minutes. Remove veggies from heat and cover to keep warm.

In a medium saucepan melt butter and whisk in flour until smooth, add the wine and cook until it thickens up. Add the cream and milk slowly while stirring. Keep over medium high heat, and stir frequently. If sauce begins to boil heavily, reduce heat some. Cook until well thickened, about 10 minutes. Squeeze in lemon juice and add in basil and Parmesan. Stir in basil and sun dried tomatoes. Sprinkle in the paprika and garlic powder. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the veggies and add peas. Stir together and cook until sauce begins to bubble. Crumble bacon up a bit and add. Add pasta and stir together.

*If you want a veggie version, just omit bacon and use a little olive oil to sauté the veggies.

Adapted From The Pioneer Woman's Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich

I love the PW, I check her blog often and use her recipes a lot. She great at making super yummy recipes, she is just not so great for my waistline. So when I take a recipe I do my best to skinny it up a bit. This sandwich is a man pleaser for sure, even when it is lower fat. The original recipe calls for 2 sticks of butter, mine only calls for about 3 tbs. Also, I didn’t have seasoning salt, so I just used spices… and I added garlic powder, because it’s just who I am.

3 pats of butter

2 tbs olive oil

1 onion, halved and sliced

1-2 lbs cube steaks (about a 1 steak per person)

½ tsp paprika

A couple of good grinds of salt and pepper

A dash of cayenne

A good dash of garlic powder

½ cup Worcestershire

5-10 drops hot sauce, depending on how much you like heat (she calls for Tabasco, but we only had Tapatio)

Good rolls

Melt one pat of butter and 1 tbs olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until slightly browned and mostly softened. While onions are cooking, slice the steaks, about ½ inch thick, against the grain of the steak. Season the steak with the spices. Remove onions and add another pat of butter to the pan. Put steak strips into the pan in a single layer and let brown for a minute, flip and brown again on the other side. Add the Worcestershire and hot sauce. Cook until sauce thickens a bit.

Melt a pat of butter on a skillet and place rolls cut side down. Toast until lightly browned. Turn over and heat a bit more.

Spoon meat and onions onto a roll and add some sauce. Serve with a big green salad.