Easy Apricot Jam

Today amid driver’s ed and housecleaning and dealing with kid ‘tudes and hosting an afternoon swim attended by 15 cousins, I also managed to can 24 pints of apricot jam. I say this not to brag, but to encourage those of you who are thinking about trying canning.
Canning [...]

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Works for Me: Thai Beef Chard Wraps

This week Shannon’s Works for Me is featuring easy recipes. Actually, recipes that take 5 ingredients or less. This recipe can have more than that, but it is a fun way to get kids to eat their greens and so I am sharing it anyway.

Thai Chard Wraps
Prep time: 20 minutes
Serves:6 or more
Ingredients
a big [...]

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Of root vegetables and root cellars –oh, and a grill recipe.

Usually by this time of year we are DONE planting. But the other day I bought half a dozen more seed packets and this morning the big boys and I were moving compost while my husband set up new sprinkler lines in preparation for just a bit more garden space.
The seeds I bought? [...]

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Saving Money on Meat/ Hamburger Stroganoff Recipe

Today’s NYT article Putting Meat in its Place captured my philosophy on meat perfectly. We don’t NEED huge slabs of meat on our dinner plates every day!
In that spirit, here’s a recipe several people have requested. We only make this a couple times a month– it is NOT low fat– but [...]

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Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Our strawberries are in full swing and we have a pretty decent patch of them== probably about 50 plants. But we’ve been eating them so quickly (and happily) that I was starting to wonder if I’d ever have enough to make jam. So this morning I made a pre-emptive strike (meaning I got [...]

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Fun links (updated)

Because I am about to fall over from exhaustion, I’m linking instead of writing tonight.
Yummy-looking green bean recipe
Adorable EASY market bags
Marian finally started a blog! You go, Girl!
To my surprise a CNN story quoting me. (Thanks to Melanie and others for the heads up!)
And for any new readers who’ve strolled over from CNN- some of [...]

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Hearty Beef Dumpling Stew

Here’s another of the meals that I featured on my Frugal Cooking Carnival

Beef Dumpling Stew

Serves 8

Stew
2 lbs hamburger or sausage
2 T. oil (olive or vegetable)
2 c. sliced carrots
2 c. minced onion
4 T. flour
8 c. beef broth (make this with beef bouillon if you don’t have beef broth on hand)
4 c. pureed tomatoes (or 3 c. [...]

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Midnight snack: Mushroom egg pasta

Or breakfast. Or lunch.
This evening around midnight I was writing away, but getting increasingly sidetracked by hunger pangs. I kept telling myself that I just ought to go to bed, but the quiet of the night lured me to keep writing. And besides, there was that rumbling in my stomach. [...]

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Frugal Cooking Carnival (updated)

Welcome to the Frugal Cooking Carnival! I hope you’re all set to share three days worth of menus, costs, pictures, and recipes. Guidelines can be found here. But even the recipes from one or two meals will be helpful, so please participate at whatever level you feel able. Before I [...]

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Chicken Enchiladas (double batch)

( This is just one recipe in my Frugal Cookin’ Carnival
Click on the above link to see what else I cooked during my three days.)
Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe is a favorite at our house. It is sooooo easy to make a second one to freeze while you are at it that I went ahead and [...]

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