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A Few Cooking Time-savers: Pre-chopped and pre-packaged mixes

In addition to freezing pre-cooked meals, I find it helpful to pick a day of the week to pre-chop and pre-measure ingredients for later meals. I find preparing some of my ingredients in advance helps to keep things organized, plus it saves time and money. Below are a few cooking time-savers I find helpful when it comes time to preparing a meal.


Freeze onions: I add onions to many meals. But I don’t like chopping them, they make me cry :(. So I usually buy a bunch, chop them all at once, and then freeze them for later use. There’s no need to blanch them, just wash, peel, chop and store into freezer bags. This method can be used to freeze Bell or Sweet Peppers too. Just be sure to remove the seeds, wash, chop and store. *And of course there are many other veggies that can be frozen ahead of time too, just be sure to research food preservation for the appropriate details for freezing each vegetable. If the vegetables won’t be consumed within three months, they may require blanching before freezing.


Freeze Herbs: I love the taste of fresh parsley and the aroma when I chop it. So I usually buy a lot of parsley. It's easy to freeze. Just wash it, chop and store into ice cube trays. Each cube should be about a tablespoon of Parsley, and then top each cube with a little water to preserve your herbs. I like to keep the herbs in the trays, so I cover them with plastic wrap and store for later use. But if you prefer, once frozen solid, you can take the cubes out of the tray and put them into air-tight freezer bags. *If you’re freezing more than one type of herb, be sure to label your bags (since the herbs will all look similar when frozen). Some herbs may not freeze well, so be sure to do your research first.

Notes:

A quick option to traditional freezing is “tray freezing”. Before freezing your veggies and herbs, you could place a single layer of the items onto a cookie sheet, freeze, and then transfer into air-tight freezer bags.

Be sure to squeeze as much air out of plastic freezer bags before freezing, this will help prevent freezer burn.


Packaged Dry Mixes: here are a few easy Dry Mix Recipes from The Vegetarian Resource Group. Many dry mixes can be stored in air-tight containers or bags in a cool dry place. Be sure to label them, and place a date on them. Many dry mixes will keep well for a few weeks, but I like to use them within a week. *So be sure to research food preservation for the appropriate details for storing homemade dry mixes.



Related info: Here are a few tips to Keep Food Fresh Longer
For more Works for Me Wednesday tips, check out Rocks in my Dryer.

Free Crock Pot Soup Recipes Booklet

The Frontier Soups website has an offer for a Free Crock Pot Soup Recipes Booklet! Link

Menu Plan 12/1 - 12/7

Weekly Vegetarian meals and Desserts.

Monday
Dinner: Leftovers from the weekend :)
Dessert: Pumpkin Pie

Tuesday
Dinner: Black Bean Burgers recipe from about.com severed on on whole grain rolls with lettuce, tomato and hash browns
Dessert: Banana Milkshake recipe from vegweb.com

Wednesday
Dinner: Creamy Butternut Squash Soup and French Onion Bread
Dessert: Cranberry-Orange Muffins from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen

Thursday
Dinner: General Tao's Tofu recipe from vegweb
Dessert: Apple Sauce recipe from Simply Recipes

Friday
Dinner: Baked Potatoes, topped with Veggie Chili
Quick Chili directions: canned kidney beans slow cooked with; chili spice, onions, peppers, tomatoes, corn, and 1/2 bag of Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Crumbles. Salt to taste.
Dessert: Banana Ice-cream!

Saturday
Dinner: Vegetarian Pizza on Rustic Pizza Dough, toppings; Newman's Own Marinara sauce, chopped mushrooms, olives, onions, sun dried tomatoes, red and green peppers, artichokes, and 1/2 bag of Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Crumbles
Dessert: Classic Oatmeal Cookies recipe from about.com

Sunday
Dinner: Spicy Italian Vegetarian Sausages recipe from everdaydish.tv served with spaghetti and garlic bread. For the garlic bread, I make this Rustic Pizza dough, spread on olive oil, garlic, salt and oregano then bake it - very yummy!).
Dessert: Baked Apples recipe from from Simply Recipes


For more menu planning ideas visit Organizing Junkie!
And for my previous week's Vegetarian Menu visit here
For money saving coupons visit here

Frugal Vegetarian Menu Plan 11/17 - 11/23

Weekly Vegetarian meals and Desserts.


Monday
Dinner: Grilled Tomato Sandwiches with vegetarian baked beans and Baked French Fries
Dessert: Baked Apples, recipe from Simply Recipes

Tuesday
Dinner: Veggie Chili (canned kidney beans slow cooked with; chili spice, onions, peppers, tomatoes, corn, and 1/2 bag of Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Crumbles )
Dessert: Cornbread from recipezaar.com. I add 1/4 cup of brown sugar to this recipe, since I like sweet cornbread! I double the recipe, since it tastes so good! It's nice to have the leftover cornbread for breakfast, served with fruit!


Wednesday
Dinner: Veggie Stroganoff
Dessert: Pineapple Orange Sorbet from allrecipes.com.

Thursday
Breakfast for Dinner: Dinner: Veggie Tofu-scramble served with hash browns and whole grain rolls
Dessert: Cinnamon Toast
Quick directions: Mix 2 tsp cinnamon with 1/4 cup sugar together, toast 8 slices raisin bread or plain bread, spread margarine on the toast, then sprinkle the sugar cinnamon mixture over toast.

Friday
Dinner: Witch Soup, and biscuits
Dessert: Fruit Smoothie
Quick directions: 1 Banana, 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup ice, and tsp flax seed - blended until smooth. If needed, add water to thin the smoothie. Makes two large servings

Saturday
Dinner: Vegetarian Salad with Chik'n Strips and French Onion Bread
Dessert: Churros recipe from allrecipes.com

Sunday
No cooking - Family night out :)


We usually eat leftovers for lunch and sometimes dessert for breakfast :) Snacks are usually mixed nuts, granola, fruits or veggies.

For more menu planning ideas visit Organizing Junkie!
And for my previous week's Vegetarian Menu visit here
For money saving coupons visit here

Veggie Stroganoff

Ingredients

1 bag or box of your favorite pasta noodles
1/2 bag of Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Crumbles, or other TVP
½ cup of chopped mushrooms
¼ cup Nutritional yeast
¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon minced dried onion
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup of cold water
1 cup of vegetable broth
1 cup or more of soy milk
½ teaspoon taco seasoning
½ teaspoon of mustard
¼ teaspoon of lemon juice
3 tablespoons margarine (I like using Earth Balance Margarine)
salt and pepper to taste


Directions

Prepare the noodles per package instructions, then set noodles aside.




Over medium heat, sauté the vegetable protein, and mushrooms in a lightly oiled frying pan. Once crumbles are lightly browned, remove from heat.



In a sauce pan: mix the nutritional yeast, flour, salt, onion, taco seasoning and garlic together. Add the water and stir over medium heat until mixture is smooth and sauce begins to thicken. Then add margarine, vegetable broth, mustard, lemon juice and soy milk. Stir until mixture is well blended and looks creamy. Add more soy milk if you would like a thinner sauce.


Mix all of the cooked ingredients together. Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

Frugal Vegetarian Menu Plan 11/10 - 11/16

Weekly Vegetarian meals and Desserts.

Monday
Dinner: Brown Rice, Butternut Squash, & Arugula Salad, recipe from Enlightened Cooking
Dessert: Vegan Lemon Cake recipe from recipezaar.com

Tuesday
Dinner: Cheeseless Macaroni n' Cheese recipe from vegan visitor. Served with a side of steamed mixed veggies.
Dessert: Sparkling Fruit Salad recipe from allrecipes.com

Wednesday
Dinner: Taco Style Lentils & Rice recipe from Hillbilly Housewife, served with diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, sweet corn, diced bell peppers and topped with Tofutti's Better than Sour Cream
Dessert: Marshmallow-less Krispies Treats!

Thursday
Dinner: Veggie Stroganoff - I made this a few times last week for lunch. My husband kept asking me to make more each day. I will post a recipe for it later this week.
Dessert: Apple Sauce recipe from Simply Recipes

Friday
Breakfast for Dinner: "Eggs" Benedict recipe from chooseveg.com, served with a side of hash browns.
Dessert: Pumpkin Waffles recipe from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

Saturday
Dinner: Potato Pierogies recipe from Vegan Dad. Served with Vegetarian Salad with Chik'n Strips. I could eat those Pierogies every day!
Dessert: Banana Ice-cream!

Sunday
Dinner: Better Than Classic Lasagna recipe from www.delicioustv.com
Dessert: Baked Apples recipe from from Simply Recipes


For more menu planning ideas visit Organizing Junkie!
And for my previous week's Vegetarian Menu visit here
For money saving coupons visit here

Homemade Pizza Recipe

This is my favorite pizza!
First I make this Rustic Pizza Dough

Here are the toppings:
1/2 jar of Newman's Own Marinara sauce
1/2 cup of chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup of chopped sun dried tomatoes
1/4 diced olives
1/4 diced onions
1/4 cup of mixture of diced red and green peppers
1/4 chopped artichokes
1/2 bag of cooked Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Crumbles


Once dough is ready, roll it out, and lightly sprinkle both sides with a little cornmeal. Place onto baking sheet, spread the toppings on, and bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

Be sure to visit Yummy Tuesday for more recipes
This pizza recipe is also on on my Menu this Week :)

Frugal Vegetarian Menu Plan 11/3/-11/9

Weekly Vegetarian meals and Desserts.

Monday
Dinner: Rice with Steamed Veggies and Cannellini beans.
Quick directions: cook beans, steam some broccoli and sliced carrots, sauté 1/4 cup of onions and 1/2 cup mushrooms over medium heat. Serve over Near East Rice Pilaf - this rice can be a little expensive, but tastes great!! I usaully combine coupons with grocery store deals, and then stock up. Here's a printable coupon, on the second page, for 50¢ off any one Near East product. Plus check to see if your store doubles coupons! I'm not sure how long the coupon will be available, I print them when I come across them.
Dessert: Pumpkin Pie (I made two of these pies this weekend)

Tuesday
Dinner: Whole Grain Pasta with Newman's Own Marinara sauce and Vegetarian Meatballs recipe from dairyfreecooking.about.com. I haven't tried this Vegetarian Meatball recipe yet, but it sounds good. Served with Garlic Bread Sticks.
Quick directions for Easy Garlic Bread Sticks: unroll 1 can of Pillsbury Pizza Dough, spray olive oil onto dough and season with fresh minced garlic, Italian herbs and spices, then salt to taste. Bake per can's recommended heating instructions, but careful not to burn, remove when dough is lightly toasted! Save $.60 on two Pillsbury Italian Meal Breads here
Dessert: Maybe more Pumpkin Pie ;)

Wednesday
Dinner: Grilled Tomato Sandwiches with vegetarian baked beans and Baked French Fries
Dessert: Fruit Smoothie
Quick directions: 1 Banana, 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup ice, and tsp flax seed - blended until smooth. If needed, add water to thin the smoothie. Makes two large servings

Thursday
Breakfast for Dinner: Veggie Tofu-scramble served with hash browns and whole grain rolls.
Dessert: Banana-Nut Waffles from www.recipezaar.com

Friday
Dinner: Vegetarian Pizza on Rustic Pizza Dough, toppings; Newman's Own Marinara sauce, chopped mushrooms, olives, onions, sun dried tomatoes, red and green peppers, artichokes, and 1/2 bag of Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Crumbles
Dessert: Pineapple Orange Sorbet from allrecipes.com. I haven't tried this recipe yet, but it sounds good.

Saturday
Dinner: Baked Potatoes, topped with Veggie Chili
Quick Chili directions: canned kidney beans slow cooked with; chili spice, onions, peppers, tomatoes, corn, and 1/2 bag of Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Crumbles. Salt to taste.
Dessert: Banana Ice-cream!

Sunday
Dinner: Vegetarian Salad with Chik'n Strips and French Onion Bread
There's a printable coupon here for 50¢ off one Fresh Express Tender Leaf Salad. I'm not sure how long the coupon will be available, I print them when I come across them.
Dessert: Chocolate Strawberries from allrecipes.com

*Frugal Tip:
Instead of slathering on too much oil, use an oil sprayer.
I found this simple and practical oil sprayer on Amazon's site, so I no longer buy the expensive aerosol can sprayers.



For more menu planning ideas visit Organizing Junkie!
And for my previous week's Vegetarian Menu visit here
For more money saving coupons visit here

Vegetarian Salad with Chik'n Strips

Ingredients:
6 cups of any mixed variety of fresh garden lettuces
1 large carrot, shredded
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, or 1 large chopped tomato
1/4 cup of bell pepper, finely chopped
1/3 cup of finely sliced onions
1/2 cup of sliced almonds
1 /2 cup of chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup of garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
1 bag of Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Chik'n Strips

Directions:
Wash and dry fresh vegetables, chop to preferred size.



Lightly toast the almonds over low heat, no oil needed, careful not to burn! Remove from heat and set aside.
Then lightly brown the onions, mushrooms and Chik'n Strips in a lightly oiled pan, over medium heat, for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Combine all ingredients together into a large salad bowl.



Serve with your favorite dressing. I like to mix 1 cup of nayonaise and 4 tbsp of ketchup to make a simple version of Thousand Island dressing.

This salad goes well with French Onion Bread.

Thanksgiving Meal Planning, Part 1: Pumpkin Pie Recipe

I'm planning a Vegetarian Thanksgiving this year. Here's the recipe for the Pumpkin pie I'll be baking. More Vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes are coming soon. Don't worry, no Tofurky recipes ;)


Ingredients:

• Use either one 9-inch deep dish crust, or two 8-inch shallow pies crusts. I usually use 2 Mrs. Smith 8-inch Pie Crusts.
  
• 1 29 oz can of Libby's pumpkin (about 4 cups). Or use a 6" or 8" pie Pumpkin.
  
• 1 6 oz container of Vanilla Soy Yogurt I use Silk Yogurt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves or allspice
  
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp dark molasses

Pie Filling Directions:
*If you're making the filling from scratch using a pumpkin (instead of canned pumpkin) you can reference the additional directions further down the page. Then return to these directions.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in a blender or food processor for for a few seconds. Then combine the dry and wet mixture together. Blend until well combined.

Pour the mixture into either a 9-inch deep dish pie, or two 8-inch shallow pies shells and spread evenly


Bake in a preheated 425° F oven for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes until filling is set.


Cool on wire rack, then store overnight in the refrigerator to allow filling to set. *Optional - Top with soy whipped cream before serving. Enjoy!


Additional Directions, Steps to Prepare a fresh Pumpkin for baking:

First select pie pumpkin, they're usually 6" or 8" big. These are the perfect for pies! Don't use the Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkins. They're full of stringy fibers and not as sweet!!

Rinse the pumpkin with water, remove the stem, and then carefully cut the pumpkin it in half.

Use a large spoon to scrape out the seeds and stringy fibers. *The seeds could be used for roasting. Discard the stringy fibers.

Cut the pumpkin into 4 pieces, place into a microwaveable bowl.


Add a couple inches of water to the bowl, cover it, and cook on high for about 20 minutes or more until soft.

Once the pumpkin is soft, let it cool a bit. Using a large spoon, gently remove the pumpkin out of the shell and discard the peel.

Use a food processor or blender to puree the pumpkin until smooth.



Then strain the water from pumpkin. I usually put a strainer in a bowl, then pour the pumpkin in, cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a refrigerator for at least a couple hours.

After water is strained, follow the "Pie Filling Directions" to make the pie.


*If you're wondering what to do with the seeds, then you may like this recipe from allrecipes.com for Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Here's the strainer I use.

And here's the food processor I use to puree foods.

*To make this pumpkin pie recipe vegan; you could use dehydrated and granulated cane juice, or unbleached cane sugar. I also believe Mrs. Smith 8-inch Pie Crusts are vegan. Sometimes I use this site to check if a product is vegan.

Frugal Banana Ice-cream recipe! Dairy Free!

Peel and slice a couple ripened bananas


Freeze in an airtight plastic bag until frozen! The bananas usually takes about a day to freeze.

Add the sliced frozen bananas to a food processor along with a couple drops of vanilla, and a couple tablespoons of sugar. Pulse processor until the frozen pieces become smooth.

While processing, add a little bit of soy milk until desired consistency is reached.


Before serving, I like to drizzle melted dark chocolate and peanuts crumbs to the top. I use a small coffee grinder to grind the peanuts into crumbs!

*To make this recipe vegan, use agave nectar instead of sugar.

Here's the food processor I use to make Banana Ice-cream. It works great!

One of my Favorite Frugal Recipes

My husband and I often visit a local Mexican restaurant just for their Chimichangas! Yep we're the people that order the same meal every time! And since we liked their Chimichangas so much, I decided to make a similar recipe to enjoy at home.

I was originally going to make Potato Chimichangas for Dinner yesterday, but my husband wasn't feeling well. Instead I made homemade soup to help him feel better. So today we will have Chimichangas!

Chimichangas are fairly easy to prepare and require only a few frugal ingredients.


Here's the link for the Potato Chimichangas recipe.
Hope you enjoy :)



Be sure to visit Yummy Tuesday for more recipes

Frugal Vegetarian Menu Plan

Monday
Dinner: Potato Chimichangas with beans and salad,
Dessert: Sparkling Fruit Salad from allrecipes.com

Tuesday
Dinner: Vegetarian Pizza on Rustic Pizza Dough, toppings; Newman's Own Marinara sauce, chopped mushrooms, olives, onions, sun dried tomatoes, red and green peppers, artichokes, and 1/2 bag of Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Crumbles
Dessert: Big Mama's Apple Dumplins from Country Mommie's site. I tried this recipe on Saturday - it was easy and delicious!!

Wednesday
Dinner: Creamy Butternut Squash Soup and French Onion Bread
Dessert: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies from allrecipes.com

Thursday
Dinner: Veggie Tofu-scramble served with hash browns and whole grain rolls
Dessert: Fruit Smoothie (Banana, orange juice, frozen strawberries, ice, and tsp flax seed - blended until smooth)

Friday
Dinner: Witch Soup, and biscuits
Dessert: Halloween Candy treats ;)

Saturday
Dinner: Veggie Chili (canned kidney beans slow cooked with; chili spice, onions, peppers, tomatoes, corn, and 1/2 bag of Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Crumbles ) Vegan Cornbread from recipezaar.com. I add 1/4 cup of brown sugar to this recipe, since I like sweet cornbread! I double the recipe, since it tastes so good! It's nice to have the leftover cornbread for breakfast, served with fruit!
Dessert: Apple Sauce

Sunday
Dinner: Easy Veggie Pot Pie
Dessert: Cranberry-Orange Muffins from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen

For more menu planning ideas visit Organizing Junkie!

Kitchen Organization - Cooling Cookies

I'm not the most organized person, but I try to keep a clutter-free kitchen. I like to re-use as many items as possible. One item I re-use all the time is my oven rack. Prior to baking cookies, I take one of the wire racks out of my oven, set it aside, and then use it later to cool the baked cookies. This works well for cooling large cookies! I've never bought a wire cooling rack, made for baked goods, the oven rack always works fine enough for me.

Here's a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies from http://allrecipes.com. I made these cookies this weekend, and they were delicious! I changed a couple ingredients, but there's really no need to modify the recipe. I just wanted a little extra flavor and a bit of crunch. So I replaced 2 cups of the flour with rolled oats, added 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, and 2 Tbsp dark molasses.


For more kitchen tips, check out Rocks In My Dryer