When Life Gives You Asparagus On Sale, Make Asparagus

I know.  The title is pretty deep.

So I found asparagus at Fred Meyer last week for $1 something a bunch and it was a rather large bunch.  It was also nice and thin, so it's easy to sautee.  When I was a kid, I hated asparagus - limp, rubbery, bitter stalks of torture.  Then one night I tried the sauteed asparagus my brother made out of politeness and I was very surprised to discover I loved it!

Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat.  Add a few cloves of minced garlic and heat it about 30 seconds or so, just until the garlic becomes fragrant.  Burnt garlic will ruin a meal.

Add the asparagus, tossing pretty frequently.  I cooked it for about 6 or 7 minutes.  I like it slightly tender and crispy.  Limp asparagus is lame.

Move to a large dish so you can squeeze a pretty generous amount of lemon over it, then a dash of salt, a few grinds of black pepper, and fresh Parmesan cheese. 

We ate this just now with some magic chicken (cheap) and potatoes baked in the microwave (also cheap).  That was half a package of chicken thighs, which would be about $5.  The asparagus was about $1.38 and the potatoes were only a couple dollars for the whole bag, which we only used part of.  So the whole meal was less than $10.

Baked Ravioli

I used to go to a lot of trouble to make lasagna years ago and was so happy when they came out with no boil noodles.  Still, lasagna was a pretty time consuming meal for me.  A cashier at Top Foods asked me one day, "Do you want to know an even easier way to make lasagna?"

"Yes." I said.

"Frozen cheese ravioli."

OK, so it's not technically lasagna anymore ,but it tastes just like it and it's so easy!  Since there is ricotta in the ravioli, you can skip that step.  I used to have to slice the mozzarella too so it was easier to spread the ricotta on top, but now I can just buy a big bag of shredded mozzarella from Costco and then use it again for making pizza.  I still make a meat sauce myself, but all you do after that is a layer of ravioli, sauce, cheese, ravioli, sauce, cheese, little more sauce on top, and then some parmesan on top of that.  Use your favorite sauce if you like, but here is the recipe my mom uses.

Meat Sauce

1 pound ground beef (or turkey)
1 large can (28 oz.) stewed tomatoes (I use crushed in puree instead)
1 can tomato sauce
1 packet of Spaghetti sauce mix (I use McCormick's thick and zesty mix)
1 tsp. garlic powder

Brown the ground beef, add all of the other ingredients, and let it simmer 5-10 minutes in the pan.  Turn it on low unless you like sauce exploding everywhere.

Baked Ravioli

1 bag Costco Cheese Ravioli (you will be able to make it twice and have some leftover)
Meat Sauce
2-3 cups Mozzarella cheese, grated
Grated Parmesan cheese

In a 9x13 casserole dish, drizzle a little olive oil or spread a small amount of sauce on the bottom.  Add a layer of frozen ravioli, sauce, cheese, repeat, add more sauce, and then sprinkle parmesan on top.

Bake covered with foil at 350 for 45 minutes and then uncovered for another 5-10 minutes.  Let sit for about 5 minutes before serving. 

Is it cheaper to make lasagna the old fashioned way?  Possibly.  But one thing I have learned in my quest to budget is that I have to have some easy meals or I will cave and order pizza when things get hectic. 

How I Make Orange Chicken

Two of my sons love Panda Express.  I don't love it.  When we were at Costco one day, #1 begged me to buy the Panda Express orange chicken sauce and I had no idea what I would do with it.  I combined ideas from a couple recipes to produce a pretty yummy dish and my son was happy with it even though it didn't taste like Panda Express exactly.

Orange Chicken

3-4 chicken breasts, cut into cubes (1-2 inches)
1/2 cup corn starch
1 cup flour
3 eggs, beaten
1/4-1/2 tsp. salt
4 cups stir fry vegetables (or a couple heads of broccoli cut up)
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
Panda Express orange sauce, 1/2 to 1 cup

In one bowl, mix the eggs and salt together.  In another, mix the flour and cornstarch.  First coat the chicken pieces in the egg and then in the flour mixture.  Heat oil in pan on medium heat, making sure it's plenty hot before you add the chicken.  Cook until browned well on both sides.  Set it aside and keep warm in the oven while you fry the vegetables.  Add a little more oil to the pan and cook the vegetables until tender.  Put chicken back in the pan, stir it all together, and add the orange sauce.

One of these days I'll learn how to make an orange sauce from scratch and I'm sure my kids will think it's disgusting. 

Raspberry Cream & Ganache Cupcakes

Thanks to the inspiration of friends, I came up with these delicious cupcakes.  Not that this saves you money, but it's probably cheaper than buying cupcakes from a bakery.

Using the end of a wooden spoon, poke holes in the center of the cupcakes.  I like to buy the 99 cent cake mix.  After you make the ganache, let it cool a bit.  Ganache is basically melted chocolate and it's way better than butter cream frosting (to me).

#2 stirring ganache for me before church

Puree some raspberries and freeze what you don't need for the whipped cream.  I like to use it to make raspberry lemonade.

Put a wire strainer over a bowl to remove the seeds.

Whip the cream, add sugar until you reach the desired sweetness, and then enough puree to make it pink.  Awkwardly put it into the pastry bag and when it oozes onto your hands, wash it off.  (Or lick it!)

 Squeeze the raspberry cream into the holes.

Drizzle the ganache slowly over the cupcakes.  It will run over the wrappers a bit, so you might want a pretty outer wrapper.  A friend of mine bought silver ones that were gorgeous!  You could probably also remove them from the wrappers and let the ganache run all over the sides, but I didn't do this because I was pressed for time.  I definitely will next time.

Put them in the fridge and let the chocolate harden.  Add some more raspberry cream for beauty and deliciousness.

So I suppose you will want and exact recipe.  Let's say you are making two dozen cupcakes. 

For the cupcakes

Follow the directions on any package of chocolate cupcakes or use your favorite recipe.  Allow to cool before you poke the holes in them.

For the ganache

1 cup of whipping cream
1 tablespoon of butter
10 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate (I use about 1 1/3 cups chocolate chips)

Over low heat, put cream and butter in a double boiler.  When the butter is melted, add the chocolate and stir until completely melted.  Allow to cool until it has thickened a bit.  You want it to adhere to the cupcake.

For the raspberry cream

1 cup of whipping cream
2-3 tablespoons raspberry puree
3-4 tablespoons sugar

Whip cream with beaters until thickened, add sugar, beat some more, and make sure it's plenty thick before you fold in the raspberry cream.  You don't want runny cream in your cupcakes.

Fill the holes with the raspberry cream from a pastry bag, add ganache, put in the fridge for a while (until the chocolate is hard), then add a little more raspberry whipped cream on top.

My non-foodie Mom LOVED these and has already requested them for her birthday in July.

#2 Wants a New Violin

#2 spent most of last year begging for a violin because he was starting orchestra.  We weren't sure if he would really love it or not and we ended up checking out a student violin from the district for a maintenance fee. 

He loves the violin.  Before orchestra started, he watched his instructional DVD and was soon explaining to me the proper way to care for and position the violin and bow.  It was definitely challenging in the beginning, but he didn't give up.  One day he told me amusingly, "I am never quitting, so you will keep buying me violins!"  He needed a 3/4 size, but they only had half size.  That's getting a little uncomfortable for him, so next year he will grow into a full size one.  I think the rentals were $25 per month and the guy at the music store said we should spend about $700 to get anything decent, so we could rent to own.  That would take at least two years to pay off.  Of course, he strongly cautioned me against buying anything used because it might have some defects we aren't aware of, but I think we could manage to find a good one with some help.

#2 has to return his violin after orchestra ends and he really wants to have something to play over the summer.  That presents quite a budgeting challenge for us because we are trying to buy a house.  How to get a house and a violin?

Our farmers market allows people to do some busking with their permission.  He's very excited about this idea and is already telling everyone about his plans and has an offer to make some money washing a car.

After the Challenge

As I figured, #1 and #2 were eager to eat with the family again after the challenge.  #3 thought he would get to exchange his dinner for oatmeal, but he was expected to eat this baked ravioli, broccoli, and garlic herb bread (not from one of those foil sacks).  He said, "I don't really like lasagna anymore."  No!  He has such a short list of stuff he eats with us without complaining, how dare he unlike anything! 

We went shopping earlier that day and he got to spend his $12.11.  He wanted to buy a movie, but quickly figured out he didn't have enough.  Turns out he had some movies on hold at the library.  He wanted to have a family movie night and share his candy.  Isn't that sweet?  He bought a tub of redvines, rolos, some suckers, and saved the rest.  Sadly, our movie night didn't happen yet because I was playing for a voice recital. 

Our daughter had $2 from Grandma, so it was a good time to teach her what money can buy.  That huge package of Twizzlers didn't stop her from asking for more candy, but it was $1.99.

We also found some pretty nice deals.  Fred Meyer had a coupon for ground turkey for $2.99.  It was cheaper than ground beef, so I used it in my meat sauce instead.  Milk was 10 for $10 for a half gallon.  Usually the cheapest gallon is $2.49, so that was only $2 a gallon.  I think the eggs were also 99 cents.  I would need those later to make something delicious for a family gathering.  Post coming soon.

We had to get gas.  #2 observed, "That's like two weeks worth of food for one person!" 

I love their growing awareness of how much things cost!  We have many budgeting challenges ahead.  #2 will need a full size violin next year and we're talking about how to accomplish that.  He wants to have one to play over the summer because he has to return the one he's using.

Day 7: All Done!

#3 did it!  Tomorrow he gets to buy candy and whatever else he has money for.  He had a pizza party at school today and ended up sharing some of his Spaghettios because he was still kind of full.  He wants to have a movie night tomorrow with the whole family. 

Today our family also reached a financial goal.  We wanted to be debt free and have a certain amount in savings by May.  Today was payday and we were able to do it.  It really seemed quite impossible, but we managed to do it with a combination of hard work, self-denial, and also with some help from a wonderful, generous relative or friend who anonymously sent us some money as a congratulations on becoming debt free.  What a huge blessing that was!  I opened the card that I thought was maybe a wedding announcement and I started crying.

Now to work up the courage to apply for a home loan.  We're not sure how much the bank will want us to have in our savings to get a VA Loan, but we hope it's enough. 

Day 6: He Can Practically Taste the Candy Already

#3 is very excited that tomorrow is his last day of the challenge.  His bananas aren't in the greatest shape anymore (I might let him have one of our newer ones) and he wants to have a movie night with popcorn and candy.  He also wants to buy a movie, but he'll figure out how much $12 is going to buy him on Saturday.  He has also been more careful with his milk than he needs to.  He still has half a gallon left and not surprisingly, I haven't seen him waste any of it.

Tonight he ate more macaroni and tomato juice while the rest of us had leftover Chinese food.  I went to a women's activity and ate some delicious appetizers.  Oh yes, and my husband is experimenting with juicing and just learned why there are no recipes with brussel sprouts.  Because it's disgusting.  I tasted a few of his juice recipes and I think the juice diet works because it induces nausea.

I'm suddenly hungry for ice cream!  If I put it through the juicer, will it make it good for me?

Day 5: Still Doing Well

#3 still didn't have any food complaints today and a dear friend brought over Chinese food for the rest of us.  If you're guessing #3 doesn't like Chinese food, you would be correct!  I feel like maybe we should eat something he likes in front of him, but I don't know if I want to do that to myself.  Oh, but dessert would work. 

Does Chef Boyardee make desserts?  Man I hope not.

Day Four: Never Underestimate How Much #3 Loves Kraft Mac & Cheese

Today was an unusual day.  Our school had Family Fun Night where a local church provides a dinner.  #3 still opted to eat his leftover macaroni and tomato juice with his celery and peanut butter.  We usually aren't able to attend because we have Cub Scouts and then #1 has Boy Scouts later.  It's just too hectic to go, but the Cub Scouts were cleaning up the school grounds for a service project, so it worked out perfect. 

#3 asked me if he has to make his dinner on Friday.  When I told him yes, he said, "Awwwww!"

I asked hopefully, "Are you starting to miss my cooking?"  "Yes."  A miracle!  "Which foods are you missing?"  "I'm missing your Kraft Mac and Cheese."

If I cook it, it's on a rare occasion, but I usually have the kids do it and I eat something else.  After he received two Costco cases of Kraft Mac and Cheese on his birthday last year, he went to bed and ended up puking all over his room.  The next day, he asked, "When can we have some more mac and cheese?"

I guess he wasn't kidding when he said, "Mac and cheese is my life!"