Bare Necessities

This apple crisp will make anyone melt instantly! It is the perfect dessert or for lazy afternoon gatherings in the fall. Not to mention, it is really easy to make and pretty easy on the wallet. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and perhaps a little drizzle of caramel for an extra special treat.

Apple Filling:

4 of your favorite sturdy apples, I used Rome

2 tsp cinnnamon

1/2 tsp of each, nutmeg, cloves and allspice

1/2 stick butter (melting is not necessary)

tsp of cider, cider vinegar, or lemon (whichever you have on hand, all give the same effect)

tbs cornstarch

1/2 cup sugar, use more or less to taste

tsp of vanilla

a pinch of salt

Peel the apples and slice thin. Combine these ingredients and let macerate. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and begin the topping.

For the topping:

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats

6 tbs flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

a pinch of salt

1 stick butter, cut into cubes

Combine all ingredients but the butter, and then add the butter. Use your fingers for ease in creating a mass with the butter.

Pour the apples into a greased baking dish. Put slices of butter throughout the apples. Place the topping on top, you will have to mold it a bit. Bake for about 30 to 45 minutes, until the apples are nice and tender when pierced with a fork.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love cheese. I will pull cheese out of the fridge and eat slices plain or with crackers. One of my favorite snacks is, hands down, colby cheese with crisp apples. For this recipe, I chose a creamy, yet slightly tangy Havarti cheese atop juicy tomatoes and balsamic marinated chicken breasts. This recipe takes little time and is bursting with flavor. Try this with some nice smoky bacon–you will die!

Balsamic Marinade

1/2 c. Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 c. olive or grapeseed oil

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. of each: thyme, oregano, and basil; or 1 tsp. of an Italian Season spice blend

1 lb. of chicken breasts, washed and cut into strips. Chicken tenders would be a great

substitute.

Throw this all into a bag and let it sit all day. Marinate for at least a couple of  hours. I will put this together while I am waiting for my coffee to brew in the morning. It just works better for me.

When you are ready to cook the chicken, preheat a heavy skillet at medium heat, and add a tiny bit of oil. Place the whole chicken pieces in the hot pan, and let it sit. Do not attempt to play around with the chicken or check it until at least 5-7 minutes have passed. You want a nice crusty finish. That crust has loads of flavor as a result of the balsamic vinegar caramelizing. After about 5-7 minutes have passed, check the chicken and turn it. Let it cook on the other side for about the same amount of time. Your chicken should be cooked through after this process. The next step is simply heating the tomatoes and melting the cheese.

While the chicken is cooking, preheat your broiler, and start slicing the tomatoes super thin, and pat them dry with a paper towel. Havarti is quite creamy and is hard to shred. I just tear it up into pieces and place on the chicken.

Place the pieces of chicken in an oven proof dish, or, if you have an oven proof skillet, leave the chicken in that pan, and place the tomatoes and cheese over it. Broil it, keeping an eye on that cheese. It wont be more than 5 minutes.

When I visited my parents over the summer, I came across some old cookbooks I purchased years ago. Amongst these cookbooks was Welcome to my Kitchen, by Tom Valenti. In it includes one of my newfound favorite recipes that is pretty easy on the wallet and extremely tasty! After trying this recipe, I decided to to a little research on the chef, and found that he and I have a little in common, which of course excited me! He is from Ithaca, New York; about 45 minutes from the small town I am from, Elmira, New York. If you are ever in Upstate New York, take the time to visit Keuka lake and Ithaca, New York. It is home to Cornell University, and is a very energetic town. Don’t forget to stop at the fabulous wineries too. Thats another post for a later date!

Linguini with Tuna and Pepperoncini is a quick fix meal that satisfies my husband and my adult tastes. Our 14 month old daughter loves it too! I leave the red peppers out for her though.

Tom recommends a nice Sangiovese to pair with this dish.

Let me know how you love it!

Linguini with Tuna and Pepperoncini

4 tbsp of olive oil

3 cloves of garlic

½ c. dry white wine

¾ c. chicken stock

1 large, very ripe beefsteak tomato, seeds removed and cut into ¼ inch dice

One 5 ½ ounce can Italian tuna, packed in oil, drained

1 lb. dry linguini

2 tbsp tiny capers, rinsed and drained

12 pitted black Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped

6 pepperoncini, or more to taste, stems removed and sliced into ¼-inch rounds

1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

2 tbsp roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

Coarse salt

Fresh black pepper

Warm the oil in a large sauté pain over medium-high heat. Add the garlic to the pan and cook until it begins to sizzle, about 1 minute.

Add the wine. (Be careful here; when the wine hits the oil, it will spit a bit.) Bring the wine to a boil and add the stock.

Cook until reduced by one-third, about 2 minutes, then add the tomato and tuna. Reduce the heat to low and allow to heat gently for 6-7 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large of salted water to boil and add the linguini. Cook according to the package directions, until al dente, about 9 minutes. Reserve a few tablespoons of the pasta water, and then drain.

Add the capers, olives, pepperoncini, red pepper flakes (if using), parsley, and pepper to the sauce. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Add the pasta to the pan with the sauce. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of the reserved pasta water, toss well and serve immediately.

Yesterday I was looking for the ingredients for the over priced vegetable washes you can find in the produce section of your local supermarket. I was shocked to find out that the ingredients are the same ingredients I use to make my own surface cleaner, sans essential oils for fragrance.
I immediately whipped up a batch without the oils and found that my fruit tasted so much cleaner. The recipe is easy and takes me less than one minute to concoct. The recipe follows:

Vegetable Wash

Equal parts water and vinegar
1/4 cup baking soda
A quick drizzle of natural dish soap (optional)

Put in a spray bottle or shaker jar of your preference. Apply to produce and wipe off with a clean towel.

And viola! You just saved yourself $9 dollars! Go get yourself a bottle of wine!

For some great coupons, check out:

Seventh Generation
Ecover
Organic Valley
Murrays Farm (they have great chicken AND you can find out where your chicken was raised, pretty freaking cool!)

I love rainy days, and after my husband telling me he was hungry, I came up with this recipe. This is a nice, hearty lunch on a rainy afternoon, or a supper on a chilly day.

For the lentils:

½ package of lentils

½ lb. ham steak, cubed into ½ inch pieces

½ green pepper, diced small

½ medium onion, diced small

2 carrots thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced finely

Olive oil or coconut oil

1 packet of Goya Sazon with coriander and annatto

1 tsp. of dried oregano

Pikliz vinegar*, or your preferred hot sauce to taste

Fresh pepper to taste

Salt if necessary

Chicken stock

Rinse the lentils and boil in water until they are almost completely cooked through.

While the lentils are cooking, you can chop the vegetables and sauté them in about one or two tablespoons of oil. After the onions are translucent and the peppers are soft, you can add the ham and cook through. Drain the lentils and turn into the pan. Stir in the oregano, Sazon, pepper, and vinegar or hot sauce. Two teaspoons of the Pikliz is good for my family. Cover with the chicken stock and cook through until the liquid is absorbed into the lentils. Serve the lentils over rice. The total cooking time for the lentils is about 30 minutes.

For the rice:

1 ½ cups of Jasmine Rice

1 ½ cups of chicken stock

Put rice in pot and cover with chicken stock. Let it come to a simmer and reduce the heat to a medium to low heat. I put it on number 2 on my electric stove. The rice should be done by the time the lentils are done. The cooking time with this dish depends on humidity and your stove and the type of rice you choose to make. When the rice is done, fluff with a wooden spoon and stir in a bit of butter, salt, and pepper.

*cook’s note: I keep pikliz vinegar in my refrigerator because of the wonderful tangy taste it gives my dishes. I often replace it for cayenne pepper sauce in my recipes. Be warned, this is HOT, so use sparingly until you have acquired the taste.

Recipe as follows:

Pikliz

6 Scotch Bonnet peppers

2 cups of finley sliced or shaved cabbage

½ cup grated carrot

¼ cup of thinly sliced or grated onion

4 whole cloves

1 tsp. of salt

8 to 10 peppercorns

3 cups of white vinegar

Snip off the stem of the peppers, cut each into 4 pieces, and keep the seeds. Place hot peppers, cabbage, carrots, onion, green peas, cloves, salt, and peppercorns in a quart-size jar, then add the vinegar. Close jar tightly and let sit at least 24-48 hours before using. Once you commence using it, store in the refrigerator. It lasts for months.

Last night, I decided to clean out the fridge. I just started pulling food out and cutting it up and going from there. I pulled  out ground beef, then about 5 or 6 onions, mushrooms, frozen ravioli (but tortelini would be wonderful). I grabbed some garlic, salt, pepper, honey, and just went at it. The result was some weird concoction that had my husband saying, “Mmm, is there more?” Is there more? Of course! And here is the recipe for you to share with your family.

You will need:

• 5 or 6 onions
• mushrooms, sliced (optional)
• a couple cloves of garlic, minced
• salt and pepper
• about 1 teaspoon of both butter and olive oil
• a drizzle of honey that can be as little as a teaspoon and as much as a tablespoon
• ground meat
• ravioli or tortelini

Start slicing the onions to about 1/4 inch. When you have gotten through about half of them, start heating the pan (use a decent size pan) over medium heat. After you have finished slicing the onions, place the butter and oil in the pan and let the foam subside. Put the onions and mushrooms in the pan, sprinkle kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, drizzle the honey over the onions and stir often. Let the onions caramelize, this will take about 1/2 hour. I used the same pan for the ground beef, but you could use a new pan if you wanted to save time. I hate doing dishes, so I would rather just be patient and use one pan. If you need to, put more oil in the pan, (I didn’t, there was actually too much oil in my pan, and so I discarded 1/2 of it). Put the garlic in the pan, and then the ground beef. Season meat with salt and pepper. Let this cook and drain the grease. I rinsed the same pan and put water, started the water to boil. Cook the ravioli or tortelini. Serve with a quick chop salad of romaine hearts, grape tomatoes, feta, salt, pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. 

Some suggestions: 

• Serve with steamed veggies.
• Grilled chicken breast would be delightfully tasty here.
• You could also use a whole wheat pasta and melt a smoky cheese over the top.

Enjoy!

One of the reasons I created this blog was to share tips on how to be frugal in the kitchen. When I am grocery shopping, I am always checking and comparing prices, ounces, and quality. I rarely purchase prepared foods. My motto is: “If I cannot pronounce at least five ingredients, I don’t buy it.”  When I pick up, lets say, a can of tomatoes, the ingredient list should read, ‘organic tomatoes’. That’s it. I understand there may be some salt as a preservative, I will not buy anything that has 500mg of sodium! 

I have a minimally stocked kitchen, and I don’t over buy. As stated before, I rarely purchase prepared foods, and therefore I rarely get that lucky “buy one, get one FREE” deal. I really try to feed my family well, with heartwarming foods without all the added chemicals that are usually pumped into our fresh foods. This includes meats, fruits, and vegetables. My other challenge is to try to keep my grocery order at $100-$125 tops. This feeds two adults and a growing baby. I don’t buy snack foods. On occasion, I might purchase nuts if they are on special. If anyone wants a snack, there are always apples. 

So, how do I do this, you might ask? I make a list. On the list, I include ingredients for recipes. I allow myself to splurge on a few ingredients, but even then, I really try not to over buy. To make it easier for myself, I save time (and sanity, because I usually have my adorable, yet VERY curious 10 1/2 month old with me) by organizing the list in the order of my store. I start with the produce, then breads, then meats, organic and natural foods, dairy, a few “middle aisle” items, eggs, and frozen foods. 

When I buy my meats, I purchase the “greenwise”, not because I am a huge fan of this absurd “eco-revolution”, (because I am not) but because I find peace of mind that it might have come from a free-range farm, where the animals are able to roam free, eat better feed, and have been raised without anti-biotics, GMOs, and other steriods. I try to keep the cost of each package of meat, around $3.50. This will usually be just shy of a pound, and is enough for dinner, and my husband’s lunch the next day. I got lucky the other day and there was a spcial on beef short ribs, for 2 lbs, it was $5.34! (They came out amazing and I will post a recipe later) My meat order usually consists of a couple packages of chicken thighs with the bone, a package of skinless boneless thighs or breast, a whole chicken (which will become two meals),  and ground beef. I usually spend about $10-$15 on the meats. 

I am not sure if you know this, however, I am assuming the average grocery shopper does not know that when something is on sale, 2 for $5, you don’t have to actually buy two! I notice the vast majority of other shoppers putting two of a 2/for. So unless you are going to actually use all of something that is 2/for, try just buying one. I bet you won’t be throwing as much food away! 

Another tip to prevent you from over buying is to write down the cost of the item on the list as you place it in the cart. I use the calculator in my phone to add the prices of the ingredients and then I will avoid that “grand total surprise” at the checkout. You know what I am talking about…the OMG feeling as you swipe your debit card through the machine.

Buying only as much as I need allows me to budget my money better. Use coupons! Organizing your meals for the week will also allow you to further budget. A given meal in my house will cost more or less $10. I hope this post has helped you. It took me a long time to get this organized, but I promise, set a budget, and stick to it! Let me know how this works for you, and I always welcome tips!

Whenever I have made a roast chicken, I make the most of the carcass, drippings, and leftover meat by making a stock and a chicken soup. This recipe is not quick but it is easy and is a perfect way to spend your day.
This recipe will cure a cold, flu, broken heart, or warm you up on a cold day. Who needs a pharmacist when you have chicken soup?

You will first want to pull the meat from the bones and place the carcass in your soup pot. Then add the following:

• A large softball sized onion, quartered; or a few small onions halved
• A few nice sized cloves of garlic smashed and roughly chopped
• A handful or so of baby carrots
• One or two stalks of celery cut into thirds
• A couple bay leaves
• A few pinches of peppercorns
• A few sprigs of rosemary, if you have it. Feel free to play with other fresh herbs, such as cilantro, sage, if you have them in your garden or leftover from a recipe.

*note: it is not necessary to remove the paper from the onion or garlic. Don’t hesitate to leave the leaves on the celery and carrots; there is tons of flavor in them!

 Cover with water and simmer away. You will want to add water after it reduces to about halfway, and then simmer for another hour or so. (You may add salt, however, it is usually not necessary since you will be adding salt and seasoning to the soup via bouillon). At this point, you have made a delicious stock. You could pack it away and store in your freezer for future recipes, or proceed to make chicken soup.

 I took a strainer and laid a piece of paper toweling in lieu of cheesecloth, and allowed the juices to drip from the remains of the boil. You should have about 4-6 cups of stock total. If you saved the drippings from your chicken, skim most of the fat off the top and put in a pan. This is easiest to do when chilled, the fat pulls off very easily. Add a cup of each chopped; carrots, celery, and onion. Mince a couple cloves of garlic, or as many as you like. Sauté the vegetables in the chicken drippings until onions are translucent. Add the chicken and pour the stock over the vegetables and add your favorite bouillon to your preferred taste. I used 4 Goya Chicken and Tomato packets. Put in a bay leaf and about 30-40 grinds of fresh pepper. Let it simmer lightly until the flavor has melded together to resemble chicken soup.

 When it comes to the shape and size of noodles, my preference changes depending on what I have in my cupboard. Today, I will be using ditali. I have also used leftover rice if I had a substantial amount. I never add my noodles into the soup, but rather, pour the soup over the noodles when serving. I am not a fan of slimy, mushy noodles that you get from a can, which is my reason for making this soup in the first place!

 I hope you enjoy this soul warming recipe. It is a great go to meal when you have had a long, rough day or woke up feeling miserable. Serve with toasted crusty bread. Try it, and let me know what you think! 

Hello All! Thank you for taking the time to check out my blog, and I promise you will not be disappointed! I decided to start a blog as a way of getting my recipes together, and also an outlet for spewing whatever is on my mind on any given day. 

I suppose I will tell you a little bit about myself, so you perhaps can understand who I am. My name is Emily Butcher. I am 25 years old and live in beautiful, sunny Miami, FL. My daughter, who is 10 months old today, is a great addition to our family, inspiring new tricks and trends I never thought I would do as a parent. My husband, Cliff is an amazing man who inspires me and gives me that little nudge when I need to get motivated about anything (including writing this blog). I am a stay at home mom, teaching myself cooking techniques, loves to knit, and on weekends to gain back a little sanity from my busy week, I am a freelance makeup artist for Lancome. 

I have also created a website called www.2small4me.com which is a way for parents to help eachother out by passing on articles of clothing, toys, furniture, and accesories that their kid’s are no longer using to another parent who could use them. This helps reduce our carbon footprint, helps keep money in our wallets, and unifies parents all over the world. 

I am just a simple stay at home mom who LOVES to cook. I am forever figuring out budget friendly meals to please my wonderful family at the end of a long hard day. I read, re-read and add or subtract recipes from my favorite celebrity chefs, websites, and cookbooks to satisfy the needs of my family and our wallets. My kitchen tools are very very VERY basic and I have found ways to improvise using what I have in the kitchen. Most of the tools I have are hand-me-downs from whatever apartments my husband has lived in over the years from his various roommates. Each of these tools has their own personality, and yes, I am one of those kooky moms who talks to herself, the gadgets, and the ever threatening oven on which I burn any given digit or a batch of yummy chocolate chip cookies. My microwave has only 2 or 3 working buttons, depending on how its feeling that day. Those buttons are “time”, “casserole”, and the number “8″ and at any given moment, it may shut in, and not work at all, forcing me to dirty a pan. Oh yeah, by the way, like most other cooks, I HATE to do dishes. I do. It dries out my precious, never manicured hands with fingernails that were bitten off or cut from whatever I attempted that day. 

My all time favorite meal is THE ultimate comfort food to me, and is so so SOOO cheap and easy to make and uses practically zero dishes. I make this once a week and it is a roast chicken, baked sweet potatoes, and some sort of vegetable whether it be salad, steamed broccoli, etc… That meal can feed up to five people and cost less than $12! And then, I turn around and use the carcass for a stock and make a chicken soup with it. This blog will be a record of successes and failures of my grocery shopping, recipes, ideas, and other topics that come to my overflowing mind. 

I have loads of spices and here in Miami, we have this line of spices called Badia. I love this spice line because you can buy a little bit at a time in little packets. Most of them are less than a dollar and will last forever. If you can, collect glass baby food jars to store them in! This is great because, if you are like me and like to try a random recipe, you aren’t forced to pay $4 or more on a jar of spices. 

In future posts, I will walk you through what you will typically need in your pantry to make my recipes a huge success in your home. Until then, I hope you enjoyed my introduction! 

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