Crock Pot Favorites - 1st three

I'll be doing a small cooking class soon, so I thought I'd post some of my favorite slow cooking recipes on here for class members. I have made all of these recipes myself.

Great tip: I find if the meat is already to go (either cooked and frozen or in the fridge) it's a lot easier to throw together. When my week is really busy, I look at my menus for the week and cook my meats for them on the weekend. Then I freeze the items that are for meals three days + out. The rest are fine in the fridge. Saves a lot of dishes and at least 15 min per meal; even when I'm not using my crock pot.

The first three are: Sloppy Joes, Fajitas, and Scandanavian Beans. They are listed from easiest to most difficult. All of these come from my cookbook- Fix It and Forget It by Dawn J. Ranck and Phyllis Pellman Good. I strongly suggest you get a copy of it.

I have tweaked one a bit. If I put optional that means it's in the original recipe but when I make it I don't do it. One more note- I always use apple cider vinegar. In my world, the white stuff is really meant for cleaning- not eating.

Nan's Sloppy Joes (p. 132) - I'm cooking this tonight for us
1 lb cooked ground beef
1 onion chopped (or 2T dried)
3/4 c. ketchup
1-2T chili sauce
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T prepared mustard
1 T vinegar
1 T sugar
6-8 buns
Once your ground beef (and fresh onion if used) is browned and drained, combine all ingredients into crock pot. Cover and cook on Low 4-5 hrs or High for 2-2.5 hrs. Serve on buns.

Fajitas (variation on Mexican Pot Roast found on p. 102)
2 lb. Fajita beef meat strips (replaces 3 lbs beef brisket in recipe)
2 T oil
1/2 c. slivered almonds (opt.)
1 1/2 c. salsa
2 T vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp each: cinnamon, thyme, oregano
1/8 tsp each: ground cloves, pepper
1/2-3/4 c water as needed

12-15 flour tortillas
Other additions as desired to make the fajitas

Brown beef in pan with oil. combine remaining ingredients in slow cooker. Add cooked beef. Cover. Cook on High for 2 hrs. Then switch to Low for another 1 hour. Serves 10.
Fills 12-15 tortillas.

Scandinavian Bean (p. 206) - freezes well;
great way to use up remaining Easter ham.
1 lb dried pinto beans
6 cups water
12 oz bacon or 1 ham hock
1 onion, chopped (or 2 T dried)
2-3 garlic cloves, minced (I keep mine in the freezer, peel what I need and then use a cheese grater when it's still frozen - much cleaner)
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 c. ketchup
1/4 c. molasses
Tabasco to taste
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp dry mustard
Soak beans in water in soup pot for 8 hours. Drain water and replace with fresh. (if needed: three remedies for avoiding unwanted side affects while eating beans- add peeled and sliced apple or carrot or 1/2 tsp ginger). Bring beans (and either of first two items above, if added) to a boil and cook 1 1/2 - 2 hours or until soft. Drain, reserving liquid. Combine all ingredients (including ginger if wanted) in slow cooker, using just enough boiled bean liquid to cover everything. Cook on low 5-6 hours. If using ham hock, debone, cut ham into bite sized pieces and mix into beans.

New Salt Lake area Food Coop

It didn't take them long..there's a new Food Coop replacing the one that just closed. I haven't ordered from them yet, since it just barely started, but I'll let you know how they compare to the Crossroads Community Coop I've done for years. Go to www.thecommunitycoop.org for more info. It looks like this one has the same headquarters and pick ups can be twice a month. The first pick-up is scheduled for March 17th.

Great Yahoo Financially Fit Article - Avoiding Costly Home Repairs

Check out this great article on avoiding costly home repairs... http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-113696-11424-2-how-to-avoid-costly-home-repairs

For a quick overview they cover these major check-ups..
1- Inspect Your Foundation
2- Routinely Unclog Your Gutters
3- Look For Exterior Leaks
4- Inspect Your Roof
5- Change Heating or Furnace Filters
6- Replace Hoses in Laundry Room
7- Remove Build-Up in Your Water Heater

Hope this helps someone out there. Otherwise, it's a great reminder for me to look at later.

Dirty Dozen and Clean 15

PBS recently compared healthy and unhealthy fruits and veggies to buy. Go to http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/health/the-dirty-dozen-and-clean-15-of-produce/616/ to see the details. How does this have to do with frugality? Produce as many on the dirty list as you can that your family eats - using no or little pesticides, then bottle them or freeze them and you've got your organic version. Good luck. Never too early to start thinking about that Spring garden. :)

Food Co-op

I'm sad to say I had to take the link to the Crossroads Urban Center Food Co-op off of my site. This is their last month. It's not financially sustainable; which is sad. Very sad. Thank you Food Co-op for many months of fun produce I may not have tried on my own; great local honey and wonderful Nutty Guys samplers. Our home will miss you.

Homemade Cake Mixes - good for dry mix on top too

I did some research to make cake mixes from scratch and got these two. You can do all the dry ingredients ahead of time and then mix them up - just like store bought- later.

Chocolate:

From http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/making-your-own-cake-mix/
Making Your Own Cake Mix
I never buy commercial cake mixes, but I do make my own cake mixes because they’re great for those times when I’m really in a hurry, need something for snacks or dessert, and have little time for baking. The from scratch cake mix I like best of all is for an easy but delicious chocolate cake. I double the recipe and make up several bags of this mix at a time.

It’s as simple as measuring the dry ingredients — 3 cups of flour, 2 cups of sugar, 8 tablespoons of cocoa, 2 teaspoons of baking soda, and 2 teaspoons of salt — into plastic bags. To make the cake mix into cake, add 2 cups of cold water, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, 2 tablespoons of vinegar, 3/4 cup of oil, and stir just enough so the wet and dry ingredients are completely mixed… and that’s it!
Each bag of this cake mix makes two dozen cupcakes or two eight inch square cakes. I hope you will try this, because although this recipe is simple, the cake is wonderful. It is everyone’s favorite chocolate cake here!
I like to heat-seal or vacuum-seal the bags because then they can be stored flat and don’t take up much space in the cupboard, but of course you could also use Ziploc bags or bags with twist ties. I put a label on each bag listing the wet ingredients to be added and the amounts.


From http://chickensintheroad.com/cooking/homemade-yellow-cake-mix/

Yellow:

How to make Homemade Yellow Cake Mix:(This is the standard size mix for recipes calling for an 18.25 ounce mix.)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup non-fat dry milk
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and non-fat dry milk. Store in an airtight container or baggie. Keeps well in the pantry for months!

To replace in recipes calling for a standard-size 18.25 ounce store-bought yellow cake mix:
Use in any recipe calling for a yellow cake mix as a base (add 1 teaspoon vanilla to the recipe along with the cake mix as the recipe will assume vanilla was included in the store-bought mix).
Or to make a basic yellow cake, use the following instructions.

Cake mix directions:.
1 recipe Homemade Yellow Cake Mix
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 eggs

Place Homemade Yellow Cake Mix in a bowl. Add water, vanilla, butter, and eggs. Combine with an electric mixer then beat two more minutes. Pour into a greased and floured cake pan. Bake at 350-degrees, using these baking times (watch carefully as your oven may vary–test for doneness using a toothpick):
8″ or 9″ cake rounds — 20-25 minutes
13 x 9 pan — 35-40 minutes
cupcakes — 12-15 minutes
tube/bundt pan — 45-50 minutes
Don’t over bake! You’ll dry out your cake.

Enjoy! No preservatives and additives and coloring included.

Muffins from scratch

After going to Costco and smelling all the wonderful bakery temptations, I came home to count my bananas. I put any bananas that haven't been gobbled up into the freezer - peel and all. Then when they add up to at least 2 c. worth, I make banana muffins. This time, I thought I'd try a new recipe -
Apple strudel muffins.
Preheat oven to 375 F and grease a 12 cup muffin pan.
Mix 2 c. all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking pwd, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 c brown sugar. In small bowl, whisk 2 eggs, 1/2 melted butter (or olive oil), 1 1/4 tsp vanilla. Add wet to dry and mix thoroughly. Add 1 1/2 c. chopped apples (or put 1 1/2 c. sliced dried apples in hot water and drain them to use as a substitute). In another bowl, mix topping: 1/3 c. packed brown sugar, 1 T flour, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1 T butter (no substitutes).
Spoon mixture into muffin pan. Sprinkle strudel topping onto each muffin. Bake 20 min. Allow 5 min to sit before removing from pan and then let cool on a wire rack.
(See www.allrecipes.com - Apple Strudel Muffins submitted by NMARIEA).
I doubled this recipe with no problem. And they were gobbled up quickly.

These banana muffins have been a favorite for many years and can be done as bread or muffins. As you can see there are many variations as I have tinkered with it. Choose what you want with the ingredients that you have. I usually stick with regular flour, brown sugar and a combination of butter and olive oil. Here is the recipe:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Yield: Muffins - 1 1/2 batch = 24; Bread - one batch per loaf
Mix 1 3/4 c flour (substitution: 1/2 of this can be oat flour or whole wheat flour - not all), 2 1/4 tsp baking pwd, 1/2 tsp salt 2/3 c sugar (brown or white), 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cloves. In another bowl beat 1/3 c shortening (substitutions: applesauce, olive oil, or butter- chose two of the three with fairly close ratios but not just one completely), 3/4 tsp grated lemon rind (or 2 T Real lemon), 1-2 eggs, and 1-1 1/4 c. banana poi (4-5 bananas smashed). Add wet to dry and blend well. Optional - 1/2 c. broken nuts. Place in greased pan and bake for 1 hour (check with knife and continue cooking 8-12 more min. if needed). Cool before slicing. Or muffins go in tins and are baked for 20 min.