Apple-roasted pork steaks with orzo

So I opened up my fridge and found that I had two apples with a couple of bruises, but still usable.  Now, two apples is not enough for a pie, and I was not about to go to the trouble of homemade applesauce with only two, but I remembered this recipe, a traditional fall dinner, and even though I've never cooked it before, I decided to go for it.  Rather than look up a recipe, I just kind of invented one.  I have no idea if this is how you actually make apple-roasted pork, but the result was quite delicious.  That's probably from all the sugar.


First, I got out the leftover pork steaks from this recipe, put them in a glass roasting pan, and set the oven to 400F.  Then, I added some flavor that goes well with apples: I didn't measure any of it, just eyeballed it: 1/4 cup cider vinegar and 1/2 cup brown sugar, sprinkled on top of the frozen chops, and 1/2 cup water (in the pan to keep them moist but not on the chops themselves). I then sliced the two apples (skins and all) and put them on the pork in a layer.




I set the timer for 45 minutes (I figured it would actually take about an hour) and went upstairs to sew the last of my kids' Halloween costumes.  The other two have been done for over a week now but my oldest child's costume still had a ways to go...  When the timer went off, I went back down and began the side dish: "rice".

I thought that rice would go well with this meal.  Only, since I can't eat rice, I made orzo, which is a rice substitute made from wheat.  It costs $1.50 - $2.50 a box, depending on price fluctuations.  I've had this box in my cupboard for a while, so I can't be completely sure, but I think it was $1.79.  To be safe, we'll call it $2.  I put a few cups of water in a pot and set it on high, then added my seasonings: 2 chicken bullion cubes, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, thyme, basil, rosemary, and just a dash of cayenne pepper.  When the water was at a rolling boil, I added half the box of orzo and turned down the heat.  Orzo only takes a few minutes, and you don't want to overcook it, so even though the box says 9 minutes, I set my timer for 5 minutes.  Sure enough, it was done, and I removed it from the heat, and checked on the pork.  It, too was done, and dinner was served.

We all had root beer to drink with dinner, and though two of us had seconds, nobody wanted dessert.  I'm going to call the root beer dessert, so I can factor in some cost, and because it's certainly got enough sugar in it to qualify.

Even my pickiest eater cleaned his plate.  I was astonished.

So the totals for tonight are: $2.95 worth of pork (I looked up the price from the other recipe), 88 cents apples (the bag was $3.50 and contained 8 apples, I think.  I'm sure about the $3.50, just not so sure whether there were 8 or 9 apples in the bag.) I'm guessing $1 for half a container of orzo, and maybe $1 for the vinegar and brown sugar.  The root beer was generic, $3 for a 12-pack, or 25 cents each.  We had 4, so that's $1, making our extremely-estimated total $6.83.  And in case I haven't said it already, it was delicious.

The Dark Side does not have cookies.

Breakfast for Dinner 3

My ex-husband came to visit earlier this week.  He had me feeling nostalgic and I told him that while I'm still cooking up a storm, I don't really enjoy making his two favorite dishes: lasagna and sausage gravy over biscuits. The whole time I'm cooking I get flashbacks to being a happily married woman, cooking for my loving husband.  But then I realized, I am now cooking for my loving kids.  The love is still there, so there can still be lasagna.  And sausage gravy over biscuits.  And so, there was going to be gravylicious breakfast for dinner...

But then we had a bit of a medical emergency and didn't make it home until 5 pm today.  Which is when we are usually done with dinner and setting the table. 

 

So if I was going to make this, I had to make this fast.

 

 

These large boxes of Bisquick had been previously priced at $5.99/box.  However, 2 weeks ago they were on sale for $3.99/box.  So I bought 2 boxes  I followed the directions on the box: mix 2 1/4 cups Bisquick with 2/3 cup milk, knead on Bisquick covered board (probably another 1/2 to 1 cup.  If we call it 3/4 cup then we can say I used an even 3 cups of mix tonight) anyway, knead for about a minute, then roll out dough 1/2 inch thick, cut into biscuits and bake on ungreased baking sheet for 8 to 10 minutes at 450F.  Mine took 8.

 

 

My youngest was my helper tonight: he suggested that we "cut them in shapes", but not knowing how they would turn out, we did mostly circles, with a few "hearts".  He "helped" again by "cleaning" the bowl.

 

, While the biscuits were cooking I needed to start the sausage.  This pack was $2.41, and was a little less than a pound.  Since we were in such a time crunch, I put the frozen chunk in the microwave, which half-way cooked it, then finished cooking it in the pan. When the sausage was done, I scooped it out with a slotted spatula, and added about a cup of milk and 2 cups of water.  

 

I would have added "italian seasonings" at this point but I didn't find them in the first place I looked, and I was in such a hurry that I mixed my own by sight: salt, pepper, garlic, thyme, basil, parsley, and a chicken bullion cube. Then I stirred the pork back in and set everything out on the table.

 

 

As a "side dish" I served bananas, which were on sale this week, 44 cents a pound. Two of these were really long, so we broke them in half to serve the four of us.  You might think that's an exaggeration but look at the length of half  the banana shown here:

 

 

 

  Dinner was delicious, but despite the fact that my youngest cleared his plate, he was still upset everytime I said "Eat your biscuits".  Because to him, this is Biscuit:

 

 

Dessert was applesauce, but dinner was so filling that only my youngest wanted any of it anyway.

 

 

He loves applesauce

 

 

So our total tonight is: 3 cups Bisquick (whole box is 9 cups, costs $3.99, so 1/3 box costs $1.33) + 2/3 cup milk ($3.49/gallon = 15 cents) + $2.41 (sausage) + 88 cents bananas (defintely less than 2 pounds but I'm rounding up anyway) + 10 ounces applesauce (32 oz = $2.35 so 10 oz = 73 cents) = $5.50

 

All right, you may now commence with the "big banana" jokes...

 

 



 

 

 

Cubed Pork in Gravy and Tri-Color Tortellini

 

 

 

So this week, pork sirloin cuts (almost all meat, no bone, very little fat) are on sale at Costas ShurFine in Coudersport for $1.88/lb.  I cooked these before in the oven with butter and seasonings.  Since it's hard to pass up a $1 steak, I stopped after work and picked up a family-sized pack.  We also bought a few other things...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also on sale is ShurFine tortellini, BOGO, regularly priced at $4.29 a 1-pound pack.  I almost bought some, but I remembered I had this at home.  Now, this was a gift, so I have no idea how much it should cost.  I searched Google, found the official website, the facebook page, but no "shopping" results that would give me an idea of price.  Technically, this pasta was free for me, but I'm going to call it $2.15, since I cooked about a pound's worth. 

 

 

 

 

I pan-fried the sirloin chops, but this was a pretty big pack: The two smaller chops in the pan and the two larger chops stayed in the pack.  I'm going to be generous though and say I cooked half the pack, at $2.95.  I fried them with: about 2 cups water, 1/4 cup butter, 2 bullion cubes, a teaspoon of minced garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, parsley, and just a dash of dill (I know, unusual choice, but it was sitting on my spice shelf just daring me to use it, and it turned out great) 

 

 

 

 

When the meat was done cooking, I removed it with a fork and cubed it.  I added some milk to the sauce, intending to make another Bechamel sauce like I did last week.  When I made that sauce, though, I said that too much flour would make it a gravy instead of a cream sauce, and, well, I added too much flour....

 

 

Since I didn't know how the kids would like it, I kept everything separate, including the gravy.

 

 

But they liked it!  Really, really.

 

 

 

Now last week, someone left some free squash for the taking.  Yeah, just like I said in my TANSTAAFL post, people around here grow so much squash and zucchini in the fall that they'll just give it away.  I told my brother you can make a pie out of it; I've done it before and it's pretty tasty.  However, last night I made not one, but two desserts out of squash.  One was a standard pie (top and bottom crust, filling consisting of diced squash, cinnamon, and a lot of sugar) but the other one was a pumpkin cheesecake.  Only with squash instead of pumpkin. 

 Yep.  Made it last night and already half gone.

 

So to make this deliciousness, skin and remove the seeds from 1 and a half small squash (maybe 8 inches long each) or one larger one, and dice the "meats".  Pre-heat oven to 350 F.  Cook the "meats" by either microwaving in a glass bowl for 5 minutes, stir, and another 5, or in a pan on the stove, with just 1 or 2 Tbsp water, stirring frequently.  If you want, you can mash them (like mashed potatoes) or leave them cubed.  I left them cubed.  Grease a 9-inch pie plate.  Into the bowl with the squash, mix 1 brick cream cheese, 1/2 cup bisquik powder, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 2 eggs.  Beat well, then pour into your greased pan and bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes.  Cool for at least half an hour at room temp before refrigerating.  Serve chilled.

The only thing of any real cost here was the cream cheese, and I got mine on sale.  Right now, Philadelphia brand is on sale for $1.50, but the brick used in this cheesecake was a $1 ShurFine brick.  Even including all of the remaining ingredients, this whole dessert cost no more than $2.  My family ate 4 slices, or half of the pan.  Our total tonight, then, is $2.95 (pork), $2.15 (tortellini), $1(best guess for homemade gravy) and $1 (four slices of cheesecake) = $7.10

I cleaned my plate, Mom!

 

 

 

Italian sausage with spaghetti

When my youngest first saw this on the counter, he asked, "Are we eating giant worms for dinner?"  It reminded me of this, so I just told him, "Yes."

I put the sausage in a casserole dish with 1/4 a jar of spaghetti sauce and enough water to cover, then covered that with a lid, and put it in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. 

I asked Emily what she wanted for dessert and she chose pie.  I thought I had enough rhubarb from this year for one more pie, but I knew I had enough berries from the bushes.  So I mixed up some pie crust and some mixed berry filling (raspberry, black raspberry, blackberry, and blueberry, 1/3 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar) all picked for free here in Potter County.  Well, not the flour and sugar.  The only thing I did differently was add 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to the pie crust (and that was a WIN.  Definitely doing that again.)  As usual, I rolled out the crust between two sheets of waxed paper, to make the transfer easier.  I was able to put the pie in just as the timer was beeping on the sausage.  The pie actually cooked at 425 for 30 minutes.

I then put hot water on for the spaghetti, pulled the sausage from the casserole dish and put it in a frying pan with only half the water poured on top, cut it into serving-sized pieces (that sausage yielded 7 pieces between 4 and 6 inches) and put the pan on high heat while the spaghetti (half of a $1 package) cooked.  That only took 7 minutes, and the water had boiled off the sausage, leaving it just lightly browned on the bottom and fully cooked all the way through.  In other words: perfect.

The kids loved their meal, especially Lucas, who really enjoyed eating "giant worms". 

The pie was done, but hot, and the kids all opted for vanilla cones (previously calculated at 38 cents a cone)  I'm the only one who had a slice of warm pie.  I still say my kids are nuts.

So the sausage was $4.35 and even though we cooked it all we only ate 4/7 of it (the rest is saved in my fridge for another meal) so that's $2.49 worth of sausage.  The pasta was 50 cents.  The bottle of Francesco Rinaldi sauce was $1.67 (3 for 5 at Costas this week).  The ice cream cones were 38 cents times 3, or $1.14, and the one slice of pie was 1/6 (I know it's a BIG slice.  I'm allowed) of a pie where my only expense was 2 and 1/3 cups of flour, 1 cup sugar, a little cinnamon and salt, and 2/3 cups crisco.  I don't really have any idea how much that all cost, but let's assume $2 tops, and I had 1/6, or 33 cents worth.  So, the total is $2.49 sausage + 50 cents pasta + $1.67 sauce + $1.14 cones + 33 cents pie = $6.13

T-Bone Pork Chops with Scalloped Potatoes

Well, it's all there in the title, folks.  I started by thawing out some pork.  This was $4.40 worth of bone-in pork steaks, 42.88 ounces worth.  Roughly, that's 10 cents an ounce.  Thus, a ten ounce steak from this pack would be only a dollar.  Think about that.  Of course, that would include at least 2 ounces of bone, I'm sure.  It doesn't look like a big pack, but they're semi-stacked in there, so it's more meat than it appears to be. 

The last time I made pork chops I used sirloin steaks (no bone) and seasoned them with butter and italian seasoning.  Tonight, I used butter and cajun seasoning.  I'm a dare-devil, I know.  I used roughly 3 Tbsp butter and 1/4 cup of water in the bottom of the glass dish, to keep them moist, then shook on the seasoning right out of the jar.  I baked them in the oven at 450 for 40 minutes.  Well, technically, I baked them for 20 minutes while I got the potatoes and the dessert ready, pulled them out, flipped them over, shook on more seasoning, then baked for another 20 with the potatoes. 

But it really amounts to the same thing... po-tay-toe/puh-tah-toe...


The scalloped potatoes I just made according to the directions on the box.  I mixed up dessert at the same time as the potatoes, so it would be ready when we were done eating.  And dessert was, at my daughter's request, pudding.  I bought 5 oz dixie cups, filled them with roughly 4 ounces each of pudding, since it was on sale last week at Jubilee for 50 cents a mix. (one mix filled 5 cups) Even when you count the cost of the milk, 1 gallon = 16 cups, and pudding mix uses 2 cups of milk, so 1/8 of the cost of a gallon of milk, roughly $3.50, is $0.43.  So dessert cost $0.93.

I took a few pics of my family enjoying the meal (although my eldest did not want to be photographed tonight) and was tired of my daughter's "poses", so I purposely took two pictures in a row to see what she looks like when she's actually eating. 

So dinner ($4.40) + scalloped potatoes ($1 mix + 18 cents milk) + 93 cent dessert =

$6.51

Bratwurst and Pierogies

Tonight and Tomorrow, Ste. Eulalia's Roman Catholic church in Coudersport, PA, is having its annual church festival.  Since there is a strong Polish Catholic community around here, we usually rock out with some polka and Eastern European food, including Latkes ("potato pancakes", like a McDonald's "hash brown"), Kielbasa, Cabbage rolls, and Pierogies.  I, myself, am 1/8 Polish (as well as a mixture of mostly Irish and German, with one French and one Native American in the tracable family tree) and was raised as a Roman Catholic, too.  So this food is "ethnic food" for me.

I worked overtime tonight, and was unable to attend the festival, although it rained for much of the evening and was pouring when I got home with my kids.  Since I didn't make a dinner for 4 tonight (the kids ate at their babysitter's house) I am giving you pics of a dinner I made several months ago.

 

Specialty hot dogs (cheddarwurst, bratwurst, jalapeno dogs, etc) were on sale that week for $2.50 a pack (I hate to think what they must normally cost).  They came six in a package.  I'm not sure how much the pierogies cost (as I dug them out from the depths of the freezer, and don't remember when I bought them, much less what they cost) but I know they are frequently on sale for $2.00 a box.  I checked this week's sale fliers and Jubilee is selling generic pierogies for $1.67 a pack.  I know these ones were the good ones.  Now, the traditional Polish pierogies involve pan-frying them in butter and onions, but these were frozen and already had onions in them, so I just deep fried them.  The bratwurst, oddly enough, I pan-fried.  Although I bought hot dog rolls ($1.50 for a package of 8), the kids all wanted theirs plain.  Well, with ketchup.  But not rolls.  

I don't remember what we served for dessert that night and there are no pics to remind me but I know if I were down at the festival I'd be buying us slices of homemade pie.  In fact, that sounds delicious.  A large homemade pie can be made for about $3.50, (less if the fruit filling is free, like berries picked off bushes, maybe?  Or rhubarb?) and will last 2 nights even if every member of my family has some.  Yes, I am thinking that when I am done typing tonight, I'm gonna make a pie.

So, a quick total is: 19 cents for the one hot dog roll I ate, $2.00 pierogies, $2.50 specialty hot dogs, and less than $3 mystery dessert gave the four of us a dinner for under $10.

And that would make anyone happy

"roast beast"

I wasn't sure what to make for dinner tonight, but I had a couple of hours to make a "real" meal, so at 3:00, I pulled this "Pork Loin Center Loin Roast" out of my freezer.  It was a cheap roast I bought months ago (apparently back in January) and tonight was as good a night as any to cook it.

The package instructions were, well, not actually instructions on how to cook the pork.  The sticker was just a reminder to "cook thoroughly", to "keep refrigerated until ready to use", and to "wash hands after handling raw meat".

So I had to look this one up.  Fortunately, I own a "Betty Crocker Cookbook" (purchased in my early days of wedded bliss, in other words, a long time ago).  This cookbook does not contain just recipies; it's a guide for how to cook, and has helpful things, like, how to cook a pork roast.  There are actually several approved methods; I went with the fastest one, which only required 30 minutes per pound.  Since this was a 2.5 pound roast, that would require an hour and fifteen minutes.  If I put it in the oven now, it'd be done at only 4:15, which would be too early.  Luckily for me, it was frozen solid.  I thawed it using the "thaw" feature on my microwave, which is no easy feat considering that my microwave's time display is broken and I have to carefully push each button or 30 seconds could become 300 and I wouldn't know it until I burned whatever I was trying to heat.  Somehow, I thawed the pork successfully, and at 3:20, I put it in the oven. 

One of Betty Crocker's methods (I am sooo not making this up) is "The Italian Method".  In a glass baking dish, spray the roast with baking spray (as in Pam or the like), rub with garlic salt and italian seasonings, flip the roast and repeat, then bake, for 30 minutes per pound at 450 degrees.  Again, easy.  Instead of "italian seasonings", though (because I use that a lot) I went with a generic "Cajun Seasoning" (AND garlic salt, of course), which, by the way, was delicious. 

The only problem with this method was a personal one: I wanted brownies for dessert.  I already had a pack of brownie mix (Pillsbury extra thick, on sale a few weeks ago at $1.50 a box).  Unfortunately, they have to cook for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  If I put them in after the roast was done, they would be too hot to eat at "dessert time".  If I put them in before the roast, then dinner would be delayed.  Plus, I'd already put the roast in.

 

So.... It went like this: I mixed up the brownie mix, decided to add some melted peanut butter (yum!) which I just melted in a mug in my microwave and poured on top, then ran a knife through to make that fancy pattern that people do for brownies. 

I also added some generic "chocolate-flavored chips" to half.  Notice, I didn't say "chocolate chips".  That's because these are not chocolate chips.  I bought them in error and would simply throw them out if my upbringing allowed for such wastefulness.  It does not.  So I put them on the brownies thinking "the kids will eat them".  They did, by the way.


So you may have noticed my roast was cut into three pieces up there.  There's a reason for that.  I baked it for the first 30 minutes at 450.  Then, because thinner meat bakes faster, I sliced it into three pieces, lowered the oven temp to 350, and baked the brownies for 40 minutes.  Then, I pulled them out, put the oven temp back up to 450, and cooked it for an additional 40 minutes.  It did cook all the way through, although I nuked it 3 minutes for good measure ("cook thoroughly"), and I would not recommend changing the oven temp partway through.

Now that's what I call a hot mess.

In all honesty, I only did it for the brownies (and might I add: totally worth it).








As a veggie, I served frozen broccholi, steamed in my microwave.  I used one of those generic "Steamer" packs which I found buried in my freezer along with the pork.  I can't honestly say how much it cost, but it was probably $2, since that's how much they usually cost when on sale, and I can't see myself buying one at full price, since I usually steam veggies in the microwave without a fancy bag.

The kids liked the pork roast, although I had to explain repeatedly that it was not roast beef.  And I had to do this because I quoted Dr. Suess: "He, himself, carved the roast beast".  That conversation led to an explanation of how meat comes from animals, and that there's "farm pigs" and "wild pigs" and that yes, some people do eat boar, but usually only at a big party like a luau or a ren faire.  And they really liked the pork. 

And they really, really liked the brownies.

So our total cost for tonight was: $5.85 for the pork, $2 for the broccholi, $1.50 for the brownie mix, and probably $0.50 for "extras" = $9.85