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You spend hours clipping coupons, comparison shopping and stretching a dollar until George Washington’s face is no longer recognizable.  You want to make your family healthy dinner recipes without blowing your grocery budget. Don’t let that effort go to waste by wasting your leftover food. We’ve all had that odd baked potato left over, 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes, or a couple of tablespoons of breakfast hash browns. It’s not enough to save — but you don’t feel comfortable throwing it away.   So don’t. Turn the power of potatoes into soups, dumplings for stews or put the potatoes to the rescue in recipes.

Baked Potato Soup

You can do this with actual baked potatoes or mashed potatoes.  It also works with hash browns, but you’ll have crispy bits in the soup. Chop the baked potato into 1/2 inch cubes, skins and all.  Set aside.  Roughly chop one small onion and sauté in a tablespoon of cooking oil until the onions are translucent.  Add the potatoes. Mash down the cubes or the hash browns. Add 1 cup of chicken broth, or 1 cube of bullion and 1 cup of water, for every cup of potatoes.  Let simmer for 10 minutes. Whisk together 1/2 cup of mil, or cream, with 1 teaspoon of flour.  Add to the potato mixture. And here comes the fun part.  Set out toppings of bacon bits, chopped chives, grated cheese and sour cream, just what you’d put on a baked potato.  Add crunchy bread and a green salad and you’ve made a hearty lunch or satisfying supper from leftovers.

Potato Dumplings

Save mashed potatoes until you have 2 cups.  Normally potatoes don’t freeze well, but in this case go ahead and tuck the leftovers in the freezer until you have enough. Thoroughly defrost before using.  Add 1 beaten egg, salt and pepper to taste, 1/2 cup bread crumbs (optional) and 1 cup of flour to the potatoes combine well.  Roll into balls half the size of a golf ball.  Top a simmering stew with the dumplings. Press gently into the liquid with the back of a spoon. Cover and cook for 30 minutes. Slice a dumpling in half to make sure it’s cooked through. Dumplings may be cooked in soups or salted water as well as in stews.  Serve with melted butter and sprinkle with parsley.

Recipe Rescues

Cooked potatoes come to the rescue of dishes that are too salty, too spicy, or too thin.  Drop in chunks of cooked potatoes into a dish that’s over salted.  Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring every so often.  Remove the potatoes and some of the salty taste will be removed as well. Potatoes have the same capacity for taking out spice from an over-seasoned dish.  Thicken up spaghetti sauce, chili or soups, by adding in mashed potatoes a tablespoon at a time.  Stir well and cook a few minutes. The potatoes won’t add any odd flavor.

Interesting Facts

Potatoes are tubers and hold everything needed to grow a whole new plant.  That’s exactly what the “eyes” on a potato are — baby potato sprouts.  A green skin on the potato means it’s about to sprout. Potato plants like tomatoes are a member of the nightshade family.  The tubers are safe to eat but the plants are toxic.

January 24, 2011

Do you think you’re being virtuous by wrapping up all your leftovers and organizing them neatly in the refrigerator, only to find them turning into alien life forms at the end of a few weeks? If that sounds like you, don’t waste that money you saved by couponing.  Prevent leftovers in the first place.

Learn What a Serving Is

Restaurants, especially fast food restaurants, have led us to expect that a hamburger must weight 1/2 pound; a plate of pasta holds two cups and drowns in sauce, or a rack of ribs should overflow the plate.  Portion control cuts down on leftovers and grocery expenses for that matter.  A serving of protein — that hamburger — is about the size of a deck of cards, a regular 52-card deck not the 82-card pinochle deck.  If you can’t picture a deck of cards, use your palm, not including your thumb, as a guide.  Figure on 4 to 5 oz. of meat per serving. Pasta and starches serving are one cup or 8 oz. Vegetables are full cup and fruit servings are a half cup.

Plate in the Kitchen Not Family Style

I know it’s less work to let everyone serve themselves from common dishes in the center of the table.  The problem is that our eyes are bigger than our tummies.  While your teenage son may eat that mountain of mashed potatoes he put on his plate, your grade schooler won’t.  It’s not sanitary to save the food that’s half eaten.  So prevent over-serving in the first place. Put the food on each person’s plate in the kitchen based on normal serving sizes.  If someone wants more, they can serve themselves from the kitchen.

Cook Just What You Need

When transitioning a family from big portions to normal portions, cook just what you need. I know that it’s tempting to cook two chickens so you have dinner for later in the week, but how often has that second chicken been half eaten during the first meal? Cooking just what you need means there aren’t any leftovers to deal with.  If your family fusses, saying their still hungry when dinner is over, cook normal portions of meat and starch and add an extra vegetable.  Or start dinner with a salad or cup of soup.

January 15, 2012

Cooking healthy meals is a good way to start the New Year, especially if you’ve overindulged during the holidays. All those cookies, special drinks and nibbles can pack on the pounds, as well as upset your digestive system. Get back on track to healthy eating with one simple trick.

Use spices and herbs instead of salt.  You might not realize it but most Americans consume double the amount of salt they require.  If you eat one fast food burger you’ve consumed all the salt for the day, half the calories you require and all the fat.  Only 15 percent of the salt most people eat is consumed by salting their food while eating or cooking.

Cut down on the salt by reading labels.  Did you know one serving of a popular canned chili has 30 percent of the salt you’re allowed for the day? And a serving isn’t the entire can it’s one cup.  Make your own chili and freeze it in meal-size portions.  Pick up low sodium cheese and use no-added sodium roast deli beef for sandwiches.

Most people have an acquired taste for salt. Parents actually salt their purchased baby food because the food tastes flat to them.  The baby of course, not being used to eating salt, doesn’t mind the taste. The easiest way to readjust your taste buds is to go cold turkey for three or four days. That means not only not adding salt, but preparing meals from salt-free ingredients.  It will take some extra time but at the end of the time period you’ll recognize just how salty most food is. You might even lose a few pounds because you can’t eat fast food that’s loaded with salt and fat.

Replace the salty flavor with strong tasting herbs such as rosemary, basil, dill or oregano.  Add heat instead of salt by adding in diced fresh jalapenos, cayenne pepper or even hot pepper sauce.  Boost flavor with spices such as fennel seed, cumin or cinnamon.  Try cinnamon in meat dishes such as chili or meatloaf.

Make your own dips using fat-free yogurt instead of sour cream and mayonnaise. A quick and easy dip that can be thinned with apple cider vinegar to use as a salad dressing is to mix one cup of fat-free yogurt with 1 tablespoon of dill seed, 1 teaspoon of dried onion flakes or 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder (not onion salt), 1/4 cup of chopped scallions, 1/4 cup of minced cucumber, throw a tablespoon of fresh chopped dill if you have it.  You won’t miss the salt or the extra calories in purchased onion dill dips with this recipe.

The New Year is fast approaching and you may be thinking about a gourmet dinner for a group of close friends or just with your special someone. Since you want to concentrate on celebrating, rather than always keeping an eye on the kitchen, choose a menu that’s luxurious but not time consuming to prepare. Truffle oil imparts an unmistakable rich earthy aroma and flavor that’s delicate at the same time. Like truffle mushrooms add truffle oil to a dish at the last minute. Cooking dissipates the truffle’s flavor and aroma. End this year and bring in the New Year with a memorable midnight breakfast focused on truffles.

Start with a salad of tangy pink grapefruit sections, smooth avocado slices and crisp butter lettuce dressed with walnut oil. Peel the grapefruit over a bowl and use the juice instead of vinegar with the walnut oil. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and walnut halves for crunch.

Scrambled eggs may seem mundane but not when served with a petite filet mignon steak and garnished with shaved white truffles. The creaminess of the eggs plays off the richness of the beef and lets the flavor of the truffles come through. Beat two eggs per person ahead of time. Add 1/4 cup of heavy cream — it is a holiday so now’s not the time to worry about that diet. Keep in the fridge until the steaks are done. Sear the steaks in a heavy skillet for a minute each side. Finish in the oven until medium rare — between five to seven minutes depending on how thick the steaks are. Scramble the eggs while the steaks rest. Shave the white truffles over the hot scrambled eggs right before you take them out of the pan. Stir through. The ambient heat will cook the truffles just enough. Heaven on a plate. If you’re feeling really decadent drizzle of few drops of truffle oil over the steak.

Finish the meal with chocolate truffles, the candy made from heavy cream and dark chocolate. Of course champagne is your drink. If you feel you must obey custom and drink a red with the beef try a lighter merlot rather than a heavy burgundy.

Truffles are a fungi, just like other mushrooms such as button, As hard as people have tried it’s not possible to grow truffles on a commercial basis. Truffles grow where and when they want. They’re found by dogs trained to uncover them by their scent. Pigs have a very sensitive sense of smell and used to be used to hunt truffles. Unfortunately pigs love to eat truffles as much as sophisticated chefs and gourmands. Ever try to take food away from a 300 pound sow? Not easy.

December 28, 2011

From out kitchen to yours. We wish you and yours the best.

December 26, 2011

You don’t have to stay up all night on a cookie baking binge. These gifts take a little preparation in drying the fruit but after that it’s mostly putting the packages together. If you can slice, bag and tie a bow, you can do this.

Keep guests warm after a holiday open house providing packages of drink mixes you’ve made yourself as favors. If it’s in the budget add a small, one-serving size bottle of wine to the spiced wine package. These gifts take up space so it looks like you’re generous but they don’t cost much at all to put together. Consider borrowing a dehydrator for a few days to dry the fruits and save even more money.

Gourmet Hot Chocolate
Fill a cellophane bag with mini marshmallows, five or six foil wrapped chocolate candies, peppermints or hard candy raspberry drops. Add directions to add to a cup of hot milk. Tie with ribbons. You could add a purchased package of cocoa to add to the package for less than fifty cents.

Spiced Cider
Add four dried orange slices. Don’t use orange peel because it doesn’t take up much space and people won’t know what it is at first glance. Add several cinnamon sticks and a 1/2 teaspoon of whole cloves with one or two whole star anise. Add a card that says to add the spice mixture with the orange slices to 3 cups of hot apple cider.

Mulled Wine
Place a couple of slices each of dried orange slices, apple slices and lemon slices to the cellophane bag. Dip the apple slices into a solution of half lemon juice and half water to keep them from browning while they’re drying. Add your choice of spices including allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, even a few black peppercorns to add a bit of heat to the wine. Finish with 1/2 cup of raisins.

Tropical Tea
Dry 1/4 inch thick half slices of fresh pineapple, mangos and dried raspberries or strawberry halves. Place two tea bags either black, green or fruit flavored into each cellophane bag and tie with ribbons that match.

If you feel that the drink mixes alone aren’t quite enough for a favor. Put the bags into a wine glass for the mulled wine, clear glass coffee cup for the cider and cocoa and a smaller clear glass tea cup for the tropical tea. You could put colored excelsior in the bottom of the glass or cup for added color and bulk. These favors cost less than a dollar apiece but look fabulous.

December 23, 2011

Holiday time is gift giving time. Cooks are making batches of jellies and jams, pickles and relishes, sauces and chutneys, while bakers are decorating cookies, cakes and breads.

If you love food and have a sense of adventure consider giving that special someone their choice of experience days. You may be asking yourself exactly what an “experience day” is. Well it’s a day they’ll never forget. Choose from a hot air balloon ride at sunrise with a scrumptious breakfast included, or a mini spa day for two with delectable cuisine for lunch. If your significant other has always wanted to drive a Ferrari, rent one for the day. Pack a lunch of duck pate, water crackers, fresh fruit, and smoked turkey sandwiches slathered with bacon, avocado and spicy chipotle mayonnaise.

It’s no mystery that Agatha Christie chose the Orient Express as the setting of one of her best known books, “Murder on the Orient Express,” also made into a movie, more than once, by the way. The Northern Belle was designed to travel inland in Britain, while the Pullman Express was outfitted in over-the-top luxury to ferry passengers to the luxury liners.

While a full overnight trip may be out of the budget both wallet and time wise, one of the orient express day trips might fill that gift box perfectly. It’s perfect for anyone who has a sense of adventure and taste for the exotic. And speaking of taste there’s the food.

Start with fresh salmon and crayfish napped with a delicate but bright lemon mustard dressing. The soup course is always seasonal to take advantage of the ripest vegetables accented with chives and cream. And how could you travel the English countryside on the Orient Express Pullman Express and not order rare roast beef paired with crisp dauphinoise potatoes for dinner? Of course, you’ll enjoy a cheese course before a rich and satisfying pudding, perhaps custard over a dense fragrant vanilla scented cake smothered in fresh berries.

And that’s just one of the menu choices. There’s also rare juicy lamp chops, seared pork served with apples or succulent chicken breast stuffed with ham.

December 3, 2011

The holiday season is here and that means busy days and nights. If you’re looking for quick and easy dinners, stop right here. Three entrees that depend on cheese, fill the bill to fill your family’s tummy. The first is cheesy broccoli and rice. Even children who don’t like broccoli like this dish. The second is a spicy enchilada casserole and the third a gourmet take on mac and cheese. All three dishes are vegetarian which means they save you money. Start off with a preparing a silky cheese sauce in one of your sturdy saucepans

Combine 1 cup of whole milk with 1 tablespoon of flour until smooth. Heat in the saucepan until the sauce bubbles and thickens. Add 1/2 cup of your favorite shredded cheese. You’ll need one cup of this sauce for every two servings. Since the ingredients below make dishes that serve four, make 2 cups.

Cheesy Broccoli
Cook 2 cups of broccoli in the microwave until it’s softened but still crisp. The broccoli will finish cooking in the oven. Combine with 2 cups of cooked rice. Or use instant rice with water as the directions specify. Add 2 cups of the cheese sauce. Stir well.

Top with an additional 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. Either freeze this in an air tight container for a dinner you only have to bake later or bake in a 350 F oven for 30 minutes until the dish is bubbly and the cheese melted.

Enchilada Casserole
If you can layer you can make this dish. You won’t be using the cheese sauce for this dish. Add 1 teaspoon of cumin and 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper to two 15 ounce cans of tomato sauce. Add more cayenne pepper for a hotter kick or add several chopped jalapeno peppers.

Spread 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Layer in five or six corn tortillas. Add another 1/2 cup of sauce and spread over the tortillas.

Slice one medium onion and layer over the tortillas. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of shredded cheese over the onions. Finish with 1/2 cup of sauce and another layer of tortillas. Spread the remaining sauce over the tortillas and sprinkle with another 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. Bake 45 minutes in a 350 F oven.

Gourmet Mac and Cheese
Butter the bottom of a casserole dish. Combine 4 cups of cooked macaroni with 2 cups of cheese sauce and 2 cups of frozen defrosted peas. You don’t have to cook the peas. Place in the casserole dish. Cover with a layer of breadcrumbs — about 1 to 1/2 cups and an additional 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. Heat at 350 F until the breadcrumbs are brown and the cheese topping melted. This is oh so much better than the boxed stuff.

If going vegetarian isn’t your thing. Add 1 cup of chopped chicken to the rice and broccoli, 1 cup of chopped turkey, cooked ground beef or cooked diced pork to the enchilada casserole and 1 cup of cubed ham to the mac and cheese.

November 30, 2011

Minnesota isn’t known as the culinary capital of the Midwest. Any cuisine that includes lutefisk – salted and dried cod fish cured with lye – has a lot to learn about good food. And for that matter football. However, as much as Packer fans may believe that the game this Monday is a no brainer for a win, keep in mind the Green Bay defense goes out to lunch quite often during game time. The defense needs to stuff the Vikings much like Wisconsinites stuff their beloved bratwurst. This football tailgating menu includes brats boiled in beer then grilled, served with a tangy coleslaw that’s a snap to make and baked potatoes with an assortment of toppings. So let’s get grilling.

Prick the brats with a fork. Place in saucepan. Cover with beer — a beer good enough to drink, not one of those trendy low carb or light beers. We’re talking a lusty lager here. Boil for 10 minutes. Let cool in the pan. Now on to the coleslaw.

Mix an 8 to 12 ounce package of shredded coleslaw with an equal amount of well-drained and rinsed sauerkraut. Sprinkle with a tablespoon each of caraway seeds, celery seeds and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Mix well. See, that was easy.

Bake the potatoes ahead of time at 400 F until they’re about 10 minutes away from being done. Poke them with a fork. There should be resistance to the fork. Let cool. When you grill the brats put on the potatoes wrapped in foil at the edges of the grill. By the time the brats are done the potatoes will be too. And hopefully by halftime arrives, the Packers have pounded Ponder perfectly pancake flat.

Start the grill for the brats. The fire or temperature if you’re using a gas grill should be medium. The brats are already cooked through. You’re just crisping the skin and turning that grey color into a beautiful dark golden brown.

Serve the brats with mustard, onions, pickles, chutney or whatever other toppings you prefer. Toast split French rolls or hot dog buns.

Set out toppings for the piping hot potatoes of cheese, sour cream, cheese, chili, cheese, scallions, cheese, bacon, cheese, parsley, cheese, tarragon, cheese, sautéed mushrooms, cheese, baby spinach leaves, cheese and salsa. Oh, did I mention cheese?

My prediction for the game? Cheese outplays lutefisk.

November 10, 2011

The Italians have a way to turn pasta into perfection. A fresh tomato sauce bathes pasta accented with peas, basil and sprinkled with a smidge of Parmesan cheese. Chop one medium fully ripe tomato for each serving of pasta. For example if you’re feeding four for dinner, chop four tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and set aside. Cook your choice of pasta until it’s nearly done. Add 1/2 cup frozen peas for each serving of pasta and add to the pasta just a minute or two before you remove from the heat. Strain the pasta and the peas. Chop a handful of basil leaves. Add the chopped tomatoes with their juice and basil leaves to the pasta and peas and toss well. Sprinkle each serving with one tablespoon of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

November 8, 2011