Grilled Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwiches - Struggle Meals...

A grilled PB & J is a great inexpensive alternative to an expensive boxed breakfast cereal or Uncrustables. It is a fast homemade breakfast that can be prepped ahead of time and frozen until you are ready to cook them. They are delicious. 

I'm sure that you have seen the ridiculous price of breakfast cereals and Uncrustables. Uncrustables are $8.36 a pound. Each one weighs only 2 ounces. How many does it take to fill up a child or an adult for that matter? Fruit Loops are $3.42 a pound. 

I don't think I need to explain how to make them other than showing you pictures.

Enjoy,

Mrs. Smith

Rice - It Doesn't Have To Be As Bland As You Think...

Let's face it, rice can be as bland as white flour. But even white flour can be turned into a lovely flavorful loaf of bread with just a couple of ingredients. What about rice you say? Plain rice can also be made into a sweet or savory dish with just a few ingredients. 

Many types of rice already have complex flavors like Jasmine and Basmati. They are also more expensive than plain white rice. Any type of rice can be used in the recipes and with the technique that I am going to show you in this blog post. 

I have discovered a way to add a depth and flavor to plain inexpensive white rice. My new go to method is toasting my rice before I cook it. It is a game changer. It only takes minutes to toast the rice in a dry hot pan. I use cast iron, but any type of cookware can be used. 

Add rice to a heated dry pan. 

After stirring regularly I added black pepper and sliced onions and continued toasting the rice. The extra ingredients are optional, but they paired well with the two rice dishes I was making.

Cook rice according to the package directions.

I made Spanish rice and buttered herb rice. I put the rest of the cooked rice in a freezer bag and froze it to use later.

They were both delicious.

I was making Carne Guisada while preparing the rice, so we had a Mexican feast for dinner. 

Bon Appétit...

Mrs. Smith

 

Artisan Breads...Struggle Meals...Recipe...

This is the easiest Artisan Bread recipe. You can make all kinds of breads, rolls, pizza crusts and buns out of this recipe. This is the dough that I use for making pizzas. It makes a fabulous crust. The dough is no-knead. It requires only five ingredients and one of them is water. This recipe is very budget friendly and the dough will store in the refrigerator for up to 14 days. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Tbs. Yeast

1 1/2 Tbs. Salt

6 1/2 C All -Purpose Flour

3 C Lukewarm Warm Water (100* to 105*)

Cornmeal For Dusting 

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix yeast, water and salt. Stir in flour and mix until there are no dry patches. The dough will be quite wet. Loosely cover and let sit in a warm place for 2 to 5 hours. I prefer 5 hours, but I have used the dough after 2 hours. After this resting time the dough is ready to be baked or it is ready to be stored in the refrigerator.

I dust the top with flour and take out what I need by hand. I store the rest in the refrigerator. 

Prepare baking pans with oil and dust with cornmeal. With flour dusted hands I stretch or press the dough into the shape I desire. If pressing the dough, like I did for this particular loaf, press it on the prepared baking pan that you are using. Do not knead. Just stretch to make a smooth surface. Before I bake the dough I make a slit or design in the bread with a very sharp knife. This allows the bread or loaf to rise without bursting open and gives it that familiar artisan bread look.

Let the formed dough rise for about 40 minutes. Place an empty baking pan on the bottom rack of your oven. Pre-heat the oven to 450*. 

When the dough is ready to bake place it on the middle rack and add 1 cup of water to the empty pan. Do this as quickly and safely as possible and close the oven door. The steam will create a very crusty bread on the outside and a very soft crumb on the inside. Bake until well browned. 

I used a small cast iron skillet for this loaf. If you are not using a topping such as sesame seeds then after the dough has risen make a slit or design into the dough and dust with flour.

This loaf is ready for the oven. 

This loaf has finished baking.

Closer view.

Let's get back to this loaf that is ready for the oven.

Place on middle rack and

pour in one cup of water in the bottom pan and close the oven door. Do not peak and let the steam out. 

Side view.

We just pulled off pieces to eat with our meal.

Let cool on wire racks and cover with a clean cloth. Do not slice bread until cool. It will crush the crumb. If you want hot bread then re-heat the bread or use the pull apart method.

In communities that use large communal wood fired ovens, bakers have their own signature designs to let them know which loaves belong to them, such as letters, numbers or characters. Don't be afraid to create new designs or signature marks for the different types of loaves that you bake. Just have fun.

All of this dough costs less than $1.80 to make. So, I have to place this recipe in the "Struggle Meals" category. For a complete break down of the cost see my post on "Struggle Pizza" found here: https://roamingbuffaloranch.blogspot.com/search/label/Pizza

If you are using cold dough out of the refrigerator you use the same techniques. The dough is a little stiffer, so you can let it sit out for 5 or 10 minutes before forming it into a loaf.

 

Imagine fresh baked bread everyday without having to make bread everyday...

Enjoy, 

Mrs. Smith

Ramen Or Super Ramen? Struggle Meals...

Traditional Ramen

Ramen Noodles are our go to meal when I'm just not up to cooking and we have depleted all of our leftovers in the fridge. It is also a common "Struggle Meal". We really enjoy eating them too. I make my Ramen with a twist to add flavor and nutrition. There are many ingredients that can be used. Let your imagination run wild. It is also a great way to "Gather Up Your Fragments". 

These are the ingredients that I will be using this time. 

Boil water just like the instructions say to on the package. You can add more or less depending on how much extra ingredients you are adding to the Ramen.

Add seasoning packet and any additional spices. This would be a great time to add an egg, whole or scrambled. If you are adding an egg, pour it in slowly and do not stir. Let the egg firm up. If using a whole egg take it out when it has cooked to your liking and set it aside. Boiled eggs can also be used. 

Prepare your vegetables and meat. I did not have any cooked meat to add and I usually do not add any to my Ramen anyway, but Number One likes to add meat to his.

Add your prepared vegetables to the Ramen stock. 

Add the Ramen Noodles on top and cook according to the package instructions.

Add thinly sliced meat and eggs on top of the cooked Ramen at this time if you are using them and serve. As you can see, I really like vegetables and a limited amount of broth.

It's that simple. It is a great inexpensive healthy "Struggle Meal". 

Enjoy,

Mrs. Smith

Beans And Rice... Struggle Meals

Once a week, I try and cook a "Rice and Beans" meal. This week we will have seasoned black beans over brown rice with a homemade flatbread. It's quick and easy. I'm using my Artisan bread recipe for the flatbread. It does not require kneading. My Kitchen Aid is not working right now. It needs a new part ordered and then it needs to be installed, so I am not making breads that require kneading until it's fixed.

 

We also eat rice and beans throughout the week as sides or I use them as ingredients in other recipes. Earlier in the week, I cooked a pot of brown rice in the pressure cooker. I froze three quart sized bags of  rice and I made Egg Fried Rice out of the rest. 

I had about two cups of the fried rice left, so I grilled some Teriyaki chicken that I had marinated. I sliced the chicken and put it on top of the rice. This is a good example of "Gathering Up Your Fragments". 

Similar to oatmeal, rice can be eaten as a breakfast porridge. When I was a kid we ate hot rice with milk, butter and sugar.  It is delicious, much cheaper and healthier than boxed cereal. 

It is more cost effective to purchase dry rice and beans in larger quantities. I purchased the black beans that we are eating tonight on sale for $1.25 for a # 10 can. It weighs 6 Lbs. 12 Oz. That is about the price of a 1 Lb. package of beans at Walmart. However, that was a rare find. A good rule of thumb is to cook your own food. Don't buy ready to eat foods. It is just too expensive and probably unhealthy.

Beans and rice are a nutritious and cost effective addition to our diets and to our budgets. They can stand alone as a meal, be used as side dish or be used as ingredients in recipes. Start slow if you are not use to whole foods. No explanation needed....

Blessings,

Mrs. Smith

 

Struggle Meals... Gravy

I baked some chicken thighs in the oven yesterday. I had to use the oven in the house, because the wind has not let up for weeks. I used cumin and jalapeños for flavoring and served them with a quinoa rice blend and green beans. It was the first whole meal that I have cooked since the construction began. In the bottom of the pan was a wonderful crust of chicken fat flavored with spices. Chicken fat makes delicious gravy. The pan drippings helped me decide to do a Struggle Meal post based on gravy. 

"Gathering Up The Fragments"
This was the leftovers from the baked chicken meal. The baggie contains the coveted drippings from the bottom of the pan that will be the base for our gravy.

I deboned the chicken thighs.

I cut up the thigh meat. It was a lot of meat as you can see.

This is the leftover rice and quinoa blend that we will use as a base. 

This is a gallon bag of stock that is a by-product of veggie scraps and a chicken carcass.

I broke the frozen stock into pieces.

I returned the broken pieces that I was not going to use back to the freezer.

I used my largest skillet.

I added the bag of drippings to the pan.

I heated up the drippings. 

Added flour.

I browned the flour mixture for a few minutes.

I added the free by-product stock from my freezer.

Stirred the mixture until it was smooth.

Continued to cook it down until it reached a gravy consistency.

Added salt and pepper to taste.

Continued cooking.

Added the chicken.

I cooked it for another 5 minutes or so.

The chicken gravy is complete.

I thought about adding mushrooms, but decided that this was basically a free meal. I will explain...

In a smaller pan I heated up some butter.

Added green beans and spices.

And viola, I had a practically free meal....

Here is how I did it. The neighbors gave us the chicken thighs, green beans, butter and flour before they moved. I bought the rice quinoa blend for .01 cent from Misfits Market. So all that I have invested in this meal is the spices.

Now let's be realistic...

Chicken Thighs                            1/4 LBS      .25

Flour 5 LBS                                  1/4 Cup      .05

Spices                                                              .15

Butter                                                               .25                   These numbers never 

Brown Rice                                                      .36                    align properly!

Green Beans                                                     .54

Water or Homemade stock                              Free

                                                                         $1.60

This makes it .80 cents per meal. I could have made a lot more gravy, since I had a lot of meat and I could have frozen the leftovers or made more meals out of it, but I didn't. This gravy was very flavorful and filling. 

Making gravy makes it easy to stretch meat and is a great way to combat inflation. Making meatless gravy is even cheaper. Breakfast gravy is also easy. We use a little hamburger or turkey sausage to flavor our breakfast gravy. We pour it over toast or homemade biscuits for a hearty meal. 

Gravy makes even the blandest foods, like plain white rice, taste better. It also adds calories and nutrition to your meals. It is easily made from gathered fragments from leftovers or homemade stocks. 

I encourage you to "Gather Up Your Fragments" and make awesome stocks or meals from them. This will save you lots of money at the grocery store...

Blessings,

Mrs. Smith