Easy Hot Dogs

Not the sucess story I was hoping for...  The ease of the homecooker meant, less dishes out on the bench and the beeping timer so I should have been able to do this beautifully!

First problem, it really felt like the water took way longer to boil than it usually does in my pot.
But anyway, it boiled, I steamed the long rolls in the large steaming dish and cooked the franks in the pasta bowl thing.

The buns were ok, they stick to the bottom and the side a little less that they do in my regular pot with the steamer attachment.  I could also fit all 6 in the container at one time, which I cant do with the my other pot.  I left them in there for a few minutes and while the franks cooked.

I cant remember the time I set...but it was too long!  By the time the water had come to the boil and I had left it long enough for the buns to get  steamed/warm up, the franks were a little bit split!

But in the end we ate hotdogs that tasted as good as if they had been cooked any other way, and I covered up the "splitness" with enough cheese and sauces, so it didnt matter!!

Day 8 - Making Noodles

I really wanted to explore this for cooking pasta....so I started with 2 minute noodles for lunch!
As far as cooking the noodles go, it would have been easier and quicker in a regular pot, but it could be useful for cooking regular pasta... and steam some veges at the same time.

I got the water boiling, which took about 10 minutes, put the noodles in and set the timer for 6 minutes, when I came back the water had partly evaporated so not all noodles were cooked properly, but it was fine, we ate it.  

And I added some stir fried courgette, mushroom, garlic and rocket to it and threw a few chopped tomatoes on top.  

My conclusion is that it isnt really much use in this capacity, it is just as easy and quick to cook pasta in my regular pasta pot!  And my pasta pot has a steaming rack in it too, so I could do that there (and use the microwave timer)

Day 7 - Continental Pasta Packets!

Well they thought they were making a convenient meal already with the pasta mixes... little did they know that i wanted it to be even more convenient!!

I took their pasta packets, followed the instructions...basically... and left it to cook while I did...other stuff... no idea what I actually accomplished in that time, but still...the idea is there...

These were left over from our camping trip, and frankly they are quite disgusting!  I normally would keep anything like this, packet, instant, camping/tramping meals in a box and pull them out for our next away trip...but these were just not worth it.  The only way you can make them taste good is by adding plenty of fresh type foods to it.

So first of all I threw a couple of mushrooms and some courgette and a left over chicken drumstick into the homecooker and gave it a quick grill/fry...no, saute!  (175*C for 15 mins)

I then set that aside and put in all the ingredients as stated on the packet, butter, milk and water... only difference is that I left out most of the powder.... I kept changing my mind about how to do things so the mix got tipped from one container to another and I noticed that all the powder sank to the bottom, so it was easy to just not tip it all into the mix.  While it probably made it a completely different flavour... or rather, no flavour.... it definitely tasted better, a lot less processed and artificial and salty!

I also chucked in a handful of oregano, as my herb box (and vege garden) are getting taken over by it so I needed rid of some of it!!

Set timer for another 20 minutes and went away to accomplish something great....

When I came back it was all ready and just about to stick on the bottom, and I had forgotten that I was going to add the sauteed stuff for the last 5 minutes, so I had to put it on some more chuck those in, grated a bit of Parmesan cheese and then when it beeped, I served it on to plates for me and the kid and told them it was macaroni cheese... but they still didn't like the mushrooms and courgettes...

They should just be thankful I didn't top theirs up with tomatoes and rocket as well... but I was thankful that I did...quite the scrummy lunch as it turned out!  If only I could take this appliance camping or tramping with me!

Part 2 - Using Up Leftovers

One of the easiest ways to save money on food is to just use it again!  No not regurgitating it and putting it back on the plate...but instead of throwing away the stuff that doesn't get eaten, save it and make it into something else. 

The first rule to using up leftovers is making sure you save some when you are serving up the “real meal”!!  Sometimes you might just want to add an extra 100g of mince or maybe use 4 chicken breasts where you would normally use 3.  But other times it's all about the way you serve it.  I have made a special effort in recent months to not serve the kids up quite as much food as I had been, not because I am being stingy, but because it is often such a struggle to get them to finish it...maybe they didn't actually need that much food and I am being a bit too mean by forcing it down them!!  

Not all meals work as leftovers, but with the ones that will work make sure you put aside some when you are serving up.  Sometimes it will work as a repeat meal sometimes you can just take some of the meal or a specific vegetable and turn it into something else.  Add more rice, veges and/or sauce to the meals to make it go further (hey that is a good idea for next week's post!  making meals go further... yes will start that soon!) 

 

Ham and Vege Strata - This could be made with left over meat (doesnt have to be ham) and left over stir fry or roast veges - also uses the stale bread that no one wants to eat anymore!

I have a bunch of meal plans that rely on leftovers…I’m not sure where to start…with the meals that I save the leftovers from or the recipes I use the leftovers for.

….ummm..

Maybe I need to mix it as I go….

Last week I gave the recipe for Roast Chicken Casserole, from the roast chicken leftovers…obviously not so much for the night following…but it freezes well.

I always try to save as much chicken as possible from a roast chicken meal.

I save it in small containers to throw into various meals including

Pizza – meatlovers, satay chicken pizza, chicken Camembert and “brie”

Hawaiian Pizza (opened tin of pineapple and bits of ham left over from Christmas...or something else!)  and Chicken Satay Pizza (- cooked chicken and left over satay sauce)

Kowhai Chicken – My favorite yummy casserole dish

Chicken Sopa – Another great Mexican chicken dish (save some tortillas from the burrito meal too I like to buy the 15 packs from Countdown, best value for money…only problem is, that I usually shop at Pak n’ Save…so making the special trip to Countdown for one item isn’t that good of a money saving technique)

Fettuccine “Cabonara” – a handful of chicken at the last minute…or one of the minutes near to the end at least.  (Any left over meat is good for this one – sausages, other roasts…not so much mince though)

Leftover Nacho Mince:

A “handful” for a Mexican inspired pizza

Spread over the bottom of a casserole dish and make Cowboy Casserole or Cornbread Pasta something or other Bake

Whenever I make meatballs I always set aside a few to use on pizza.

So to end this…before I have to spend the whole rest of the week writing up recipes on the recipe page…I will say Pizza, Pizza Pizza…. If you are trying to save money on meals, make a quick base or a fancy base or a bread maker base and top it with left over anything!  (Oh and make sure you save a bit of tomato based pasta sauce for the base topping!!)

(by the way, I am going to try to take more photos of my leftover meals and will add them to this post in the next week or so, and the recipe links are coming soon too!)

Money Saving Tip Post

I am a real stinge so when it comes to saving money I think about it a lot.  Although, now, with 3 young kids I am also in the predicament of wanting to save time as well, and often the 2 things don’t go hand in hand.

But one thing it can work out for school/kindy lunches.  If you get ahead of the game you can save time without spending lots of money on packet snack foods from the supermarket.

One thing I haven’t managed to progress to is packing the lunches the night before, that would make the mornings a lot easier…but on the nights that I remember to think about that, I just feel too tired and really cant be bothered leaving the couch.

5 things I do to make packing lunches easier

1.         Firstly I make a list of options, so I don’t have to think so hard each morning.  This is my list:  Feel free to cut and paste and change it as is useful to you

Tuck Small/handful snacks in muffin cases e.g.  orange/ handful of raisins  - 1 sandwich / 1 muffin  - 1 yoghurt - fruit roll up  - chocolate biscuit always water bottle, sometimes a little juice packet or something

IN LUNCH BOX

- 2 fruit

-2 bread/starchy

-1 dairy

- 1 healthy treat/snack

-1 treat

Drink/water bottle

FRUIT

•Fresh or canned fruit – fruit kebabs, chopped fruit in a tub or fruit salad, easy peel mandarins, vegetable soup in a flask,

 •Dips/Hummus with vegetable sticks like celery, carrot, cucumber

 •Celery sticks with a thin spread of peanut butter topped with sultanas.

 •Jelly and fruit

* Cherry Tomatoes

* Cucumber pieces (with a little salt?)

STARCHY/BREAD

•Slice of Raisin toast or bread, pikelets, pancakes or scones with a little margarine or fruit spread

 •Lightly spread muffins and crumpets

 •Rice cakes topped reduced-fat cream cheese, vegemite or sliced banana

 •Small pita bread or wraps (spread thinly with cheese spread or peanut butter, grated carrot, sprouts and roll up to serve).

 •Wholemeal crackers with a slice of low fat cheese

 •Mini Wheats breakfast cereal

 •Handful of home made pita chips (cut pita bread into triangles, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake 180ºC for 15 minutes until crisp).

*Left over rice/pasta dishes

*Sushi

*Corn thins

*Muffins

*Cold Noodles?

HEALTHY SNACK

 •Popcorn with a few dried apricots or sultanas

DAIRY/Protein

 •Slice of low fat cheese with carrot and celery sticks.

 •Low fat cheese cubes or sticks.

+Cheese toasties

+ Franks/small sausages (cut octopus legs and little eyes)

+ Yoghurt with a handful of muesli on top

SNACKS

*Pretzels/Popcorn/Pikelets/Crumpets

2. I buy a loaf of bread per child, sometimes more… then I spread the whole lot with spreads of their choice e.g. My son likes honey, jam, peanutbutter and mixtures of the lot, but my daughter only likes marmite (sometimes marmite and cheese)  So I make up a whole loaf slitting the spreads between the lot then putting the sandwhiches back in the bread bags labelled for each kid

If you wrap your sandwiches in glad wrap, you could do that now too, otherwise it pays to put something in between each sandwich to stop them from sticking together, e.g. Small pieces of baking paper.  You can reuse baking paper over and over again.

Then in the morning I just grab a sandwich from the bag and throw it into the lunch box.

3. In the holidays or at some other “fun” time I will make pikelets or scones or another form of baking snack, we will have a few for out lunch or morning tea fresh and then the rest will be frozen in bags ready for lunches.  Make sure the items are not going to stick together when you freeze them so that you can just pull out 1 or 2 or how ever many you need each day. 
4. I am lucky enough to have a dehydrator so I will often buy the bulk lot of bruised apples or other fruit and spend a day, peeling, slicing and dehydrating apple pieces, grated apple, or purred apple into fruit roll ups.  (This is also good when I need some fruit for a slow cooker meal or a dessert base)

So now that I have shared all these ideas and thoughts on making easy, healthy and most importantly cheap lunches for the kids…I should really get off the computer and go and make some!!