Works For Me Wednesday: Phony Phried Rice

It's Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family;  be sure to swing by and check out all the great tips!

I love the flavor of fried rice, but haven't ever achieved comparable taste and texture to that of a Chinese restaurant.  As a young mom, however, it occurred to me that trying beef broth in cooking my rice might provide something reasonably close.  By substituting a can of beef broth for part of the liquid, I achieved a brown color, and a great flavor.  As I experimented over the years, I found that a dash, or two, of soy sauce also complemented the flavor.  Further, frying up small diced pieces of my meat of choice (pork, chicken, whatever was on hand) and cooking a small bag of mixed veggies, then adding to the finished rice, makes a nice side, or in a pinch, main dish.

Broth in the rice makes for great flavor, which works for me!

Works For Me Wednesday: Kid Pleasing Mac N' Cheese Variation

It's Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family...be sure to check out the great tips!

This is a simple trick, and makes the difference between a "blah Mac N' Cheese from the box" night, and a "Mom, are there seconds?" Mac N' Cheese night.

My simple Navy Bean Crockpot Soup was on the menu plan.  However, in the midst of Algebra, long division, and the like, along with an hour of garden watering in high winds, during which eldest, seeking more algebra help, inadvertently stepped into a hidden mud hole made of dampened poof dirt, losing her shoe in the murky mess, the crockpot soup slipped my mind.  Never fear, I just loaded up on boxed Macaroni and Cheese, and Spaghetti sauce, during Kroger's semi-annual case lot sale.  Dinner is saved!

Prepare your boxed macaroni and cheese according to instructions, but simply omit the milk, and in it's place, use a can of Spaghetti sauce.  Simple.  Yes, use butter or margarine.  Or, if you have a finicky gall bladder, try olive oil.  Of course, if you do have a finicky gall bladder, you probably shouldn't be eating the cheese. 

My crew of 8 kiddos will easily go through 4 boxes of this dish, and be left begging for more.  This time, I did 5 boxes, leaving some leftovers.  The cost breakdown:  $1.67 for Mac N' Cheese, .75 for Spaghetti sauce, and about .18 for the margarine. 

8-10 servings @ $2.60, based on my case sale deals.  Not many times will the kids be satisfied at less than .30/serving.  No, the nutritional value isn't great, but in a pinch, during a busy garden-sports-end of school year time frame, a definite sanity saver.  Keep it under $5.00 while amping up the heartiness, by adding a pound of ground beef, thoroughly cooked, or ground turkey. 

That's time saving taste that doesn't waste:  Works For Me!

Angel Hair...Don't Pull YOUR Hair Out!

This was a big hit!  Our Smith's stores had a great stocker upper sale, buy 8, get $4.00 off:  the pastas were .49 per 1 lb. package, after the discount.  I meant to get all spaghetti, but some Angel Hair found its way into the mix.  A quick, cheap lunch, I boiled water, cooked 2 lbs. of the pasta.  Added 3 small cans of tomato sauce, garlic salt to taste, and stirred.  In retrospect, a little more tomato sauce and some parmesan would have been nice, but the cupboards were a little bare.  The kids loved it!  Not the healthiest meal, but definitely frugal, filling, and satisfying!  Great for an improv moment when the hungries hit, it came in at $1.82 for the whole pot, just .91/meal, as it spanned two lunches.  Further, it served 9 of us, working out to a grand total of approximately .10/serving.  Thin the noodles to one package, add some chopped onion, chicken bouillion, and water, and that will drop to about .06/serving for a sopa fideo!  ¡Delicioso!

Not so Improv...Rootbeer!

For a summary and more info, see this article at Hubpages...we ran out of brown sugar, and weren't able to make the second batch, so on my list for the day, making rootbeer.  Also on the list, Corned Beef and Cabbage, as our St. Patrick's Day is dh's b/day, and we serve tacos on his day!  Also on the list, maybe, is to try our hands at homemade yogurt...maybe.  Time may be the deciding factor.  Some things lend themselves to an improv mindset;  these do not!  Happy Saturday!

Couscous...A Tasty Pasta For a Quick Treat

I ordered a 5 lb. bag through a health food co-op recently, and have to say that this is an interesting pasta, and a potentially time saving soup filler in my kitchen.  Walking through my warehouse store, I found some intriguing containers offered, with a colorful version as well as the plain.  Prepared in a 1 to 1 ratio with liquid, either water or broth, this has a lovely texture and flavor.  I'm thinking about preparing it with a sprinkling of cheese melted and stirred in, just to experiment.  A worthwhile flavor and texture, I found that the price is comparable at Amazon Grocery, with some couscous products available at a 15% discount via the subscribe and save option. 

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More Than Just Pasta, Baby!

I started this little blog with the concept of dressing up leftovers, pasta, and other quick meal items.  Just to clarify, I don't restrict myself to macaroni!  The kids would get bored!  Quickly!  There are so many intriguing things to make for a quick meal, and I must say that discovering them is fun.

Barley has become one of my favorites!  I order pearl barley through a buying club, which orders from Azure Standard .  At less than .50/lb when purchased via my co-op, this is an interesting grain to work with.  I toss it into homemade soups as a filler, and believe me, it makes a thin soup thick and hearty.  For a very hearty soup, I go with about 4 measures of liquid to 1 measure of barley...in our household of 10, that measure is a cereal bowl.  For a slightly thinner soup, perhaps 5-6 measures of liquid.  I don't usually buy broth to use as the liquid, but opt for the more frugal flavoring, chicken bouillon powder, about 3-4 dollars for a big jar at our Costco. 

Barley also works well with stir fry, in place of rice.  Cook with a ratio of 2 parts water to 1 part barley, just a tinge longer than you would cook rice.  I haven't tried it in a Mexican rice type dish yet, but have used it with albondigas flavorings.  I'm confident it would do quite well as a substitute in my Mexican rice dish. 

One place I did not like the barley was in a sweet version, similar to arroz con leche.  The flavors were not great. If I don't care for it, I'm probably not fixing it again...if the kiddos reject it completely, not gonna be on the menu again.  Their feellings are mostly positive about the more savory barley meals, though one son has been very vocal about his displeasure.  9 out of 10 is a great approval rating, in my opinion, so barley gets a green light at the Macaroni Improv.  This grain is sure to be on the menu for many meals to come, and I will be on the lookout for intriguing ways to dress it up!  Be sure to give it a try before you invest in a 25 lb. bag, like I did!

Hiatus...

I've been away from this one for a while...forgot it existed...uh, oh! But I think it's relevant and pertinent to make the most of one's kitchen resources, so I'm gonna play with this a bit! LOL! For those who may stumble across this site, patience, please! It's a work in progress, by all means!