Shopping Around the World

This month we are highlighting items that you are known for.   Do you have that one dish that everyone asks for at a party, at dinner, at the church?  What kind of ingredients do you have in it and what does it look like? Don’t forget to include prices and pictures if you can.

Well, I have a great one to share today.  One of the things that mom is known for is something that is so easy, so delicious, so old school but done with a twist.  Hopefully, you will like it too and want to try it.  I know me and dad LOVE it.

What is it that you ask?  Meatloaf.  It sounds simple enough, right?  But mom she does meatloaf in the crock pot!  And it comes out juicy and delicious.  Do I have you intrigued now?

Now this is what you will need for your meatloaf – or use the recipe that you have.

1 – ◊ 2 large eggs ($0.20); ◊ 2/3 cup milk ($.40); ◊ 1 pound ground beef (5.29); ◊ 1 pound of ground pork ($3.49) ◊ 1.25 cups of breadcrumbs ($0.50)

2 – ◊ Your own seasonings – we use parsley, onions, garlic, a little Dijon mustard, ketchup and Worcestershire (all of this maybe a $1.50)

Now here is the key to the crock pot, line it with either aluminum foil or use a crock pot bag.  I use the aluminium foil  draped over the sides of the crock pot.  That way when it’s ready, I can lift it out of the crock pot.  Once your liner is in the crock pot, turn on low and start mixing all of your ingredients together from line 1 above.  Include your seasonings from line 2 except the ketchup.

Slowly make a ‘loaf’ out of your ingredients and place in the crock pot on your liner.  Once that is in, prepare your ketchup topping.  Now sometimes, we do this topping and sometimes we cook it without.  It depends on your liking.  And with the ketchup topping, mom adds in some garlic.  Then pour the ketchup over your meatloaf.

 

Mom cooks the meatloaf on low all day long while she goes to the worky place.  When you are ready to eat, just pick up the sides of the aluminum foil and gently pull your meatloaf out.  It should keep it’s ‘loaf’ look.

You can fix any type of sides along with it – dad’s favorite is mashed potatoes.  AND, don’t worry, you should have plenty of leftovers for sandwiches or repeats the next night.  This meal goes a long way.

In fact, mom was never a huge fan of meatloaf until she found this recipe.  We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

 

 

 

Shopping Around the World

Welcome my friends to Shopping Around the World.  This month we are highlighting one pot wonders.  

Mom is going to highlight her one pot wonder that she makes in the crockpot.  

I’m licking my lips now – Take it away mom!

With working and trying to rush home to fix dinner, sometimes it can be overwhelming.  So I take help where I can, just like with this one pot wonder in the crockpot.  In the morning before coming to work, I will put some baking potatoes in the crockpot.  So easy huh?  All you have to do is wash and clean a baking potato.  Take a fork and stick the potato several times.  Place it on some aluminum foil and salt/pepper to your desire.  Then wrap the baking potato up securely and place it in your crockpot just like the picture shows.  We always fix extra potatoes because they come out so good for the next night’s meal.  We bought a bag of baking potatoes at the market for $5.00 a bag.  There were 12 large potatoes in the bag making each potato $0.42 each.  After you get all of your potatoes washed, seasoned, wrapped and placed in your crockpot, turn the crockpot on low and forget it.

Now, before I leave the house, I checked the refrigerator for leftovers from the night before.  I found broccoli and cheese and beef sausage.  All I did was place these items in aluminum foil packets and put them back in the fridge.  Around 2pm, I called my hub unit and told him to also place these packets in the crockpot to heat them up.  The broccoli and cheese was a head of broccoli cut up from the  night before with some shredded cheese melted over it.  Total price was around $2.00 but this is the second meal so you can add $1.00 to tonight’s meal.  The beef sausage was $2.50 and again this is the second meal so add $1.25 to tonight’s meal.  So right now, we are looking at around $3.00 for tonight’s meal – so far.

When I finally get home from work, the fun begins.  You take out a baked potato and put it on a plate removing the aluminum foil. Go ahead and mash some of the potatoes out and add butter, sour cream, salt and pepper – whatever you want.  After it is fixed the way you normally eat a potato, add your leftovers. Tonight it was broccoli and cheese with beef sausage.  Now look at that potato. And remember you washed and seasoned the peel, so eat everything.

 It’s whats for dinner and a meal all in itself for around $3.00 for TWO people.  You can’t beat that and it’s great on a cold night… if we ever get cold here.

 

Shopping Around the World – Reminder

Thanks to everyone for another great edition of Shopping Around the World last month.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices around the world – and the pictures with recipes!

Me and my pal Fozzie will be holding another Shopping Around the World scheduled for   Friday, September 30th. 

Do a posting on your blog linking back to mine.  That way we can keep track of all of the different prices and recipes from all over the world.

This month we are highlighting one pot wonders.  This can be one pot over the stove, in the stove or in a crockpot.  What is your one pot wonder?  Something that you ‘go to’ when time is short or you will be working all day and want to come home to a prepared home cooked meal.  Please share and include pictures if possible with prices.  See you here my friends!

Come join the fun of Shopping Around the World – mark your calendars!

 

Shopping Around the World – Mark Your Calendar

Thanks to everyone for another great edition of Shopping Around the World last month.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices around the world – and the pictures with recipes!

Me and my pal Fozzie will be holding another Shopping Around the World scheduled for   Friday, September 30th. 

Do a posting on your blog linking back to mine.  That way we can keep track of all of the different prices and recipes from all over the world.

This month we are highlighting one pot wonders.  This can be one pot over the stove, in the stove or in a crockpot.  What is your one pot wonder?  Something that you ‘go to’ when time is short or you will be working all day and want to come home to a prepared home cooked meal.  Please share and include pictures if possible with prices.  See you here my friends!

Come join the fun of Shopping Around the World – mark your calendars!

 

Shopping Around the World

Welcome my friends for another great edition of Shopping Around the World.

This month we have a suggestion from my cousin Sammy on highlighting soups for January.  Now is the time to start making some wonderful hot soups for dinners that make us feel all cozy and warm.  Is there a special soup that you fix?  A soup that your finally raves about and requests?  It does not have to be five items or less this month.  Share your recipe and picture of your soup!

Mom’s soup of choice is her Spicy Cabbage Soup.  Doesn’t that sound good just reading it?  You can make it as spicy or not as you like.  And what’s better than that?  It’s simple!

2 cans of mixed vegetables, $2.38

1 can of roasted tomatoes, $1.12

1 package of sirloin, about a pound.  On this date it was cheaper to buy it as a small piece of sirloin instead of it already being cubed.  It was $6.50 for the pound – which was plenty because dad likes a lot of meat in his soups/stews.

1 head of cabbage, $0.99 for the head.

2 boxes of beef broth, $4.98

Seasoning in the form of pepper, flour, salt and pepper flakes.

Directions:  Plug in your crock pot and put on low in the early morning before leaving for work.  Pour in the two boxes of beef broth.  We get the low sodium kind.  Chop up the entire head of cabbage and put in the crock pot. Stir the cabbage in to make sure the broth is covering it.  In the meantime, cut up your sirloin into small cubes.  You can buy the sirloin that is already cut up – whatever you prefer.  This date it was cheaper to buy it whole.  Salt, pepper and toss the beef in a light powdering of flour.  Put a little bit of olive oil in a pan over the oven and lightly color the beef to brown it.  This step of coating the sirloin in flour and coloring it helps to ‘thicken’ your soup a bit and is optional.  When this is done, put the beef in the crock pot.  Remember to scrape the bottom of your pan with all of the bits and pieces of yummy.

Then add in your canned vegetables, roasted tomatoes, black pepper to taste and pepper flakes to taste.  Remember, pepper flakes are spicy.  Less is best if you are not sure what kind of spice you want.  You can always add more in when you serve the individual bowls.  Mom likes to serve it with cornbread or a crusty type bread for dipping.  Goes great on cold rainy days or cold winter nights.

 

Shopping Around the World

Thanks to everyone for another great edition of Shopping Around the World last month.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices, recipes and pictures from around the world!

Items to price this month:

FIVE items of your CHOICE – Something that you go to when making the family dinner.  Perhaps this is one of your family’s favorite?  A quick meal?  A snack?  List your FIVE items and discuss what the meal is.  Having pictures will also be fantastic to share.

Having this in mind and that it has been raining and yucky a lot this week, mom went for something that was warm and soul comforting.  First up, get out that crockpot that has been sitting in your cabinet not earning its keep.  Wash it out and put it on the counter.  Then grab a box of slow cooker liners.  (You will thank me for this later.)  Put one of the liners in the crock pot – they are awesome.  Easy cleaning which is right up my mom’s ally.  This is what the box looks like.  You can usually buy a box in the grocery store for around $2.00 – don’t worry, they won’t melt in the crock pot.  Now here is what else you will need:

Now let’s break it down.  One box of Zatarain’s New Orleans Style Red Beans and Rice ($2.49); one package of Smoked Sausage ($2.00) and one bottle of Francis Coppola Pinot Noir ($20.00).  Open the bottle of Pinot Noir and pour yourself a glass to enjoy.  Open the box of Zatarain’s and pour contents into crock pop with the directions on the box in adding water.  Then with a sharp knife, slice the entire package of sausage into tiny mouth sized bites.  Now here’s the important part to remember.

1) Make sure your glass of Pinot Noir never gets empty.  Repeat often and necessary while cooking in the kitchen.  2) While putting the ingredients together, chopping and drinking, make repeated groans to show how much you are working in preparing dinner.  This goes well when the spouse and children are in the next room.  Let them think that you are really overdoing in your cooking capabilities.

Now, throw that cut up sausage in the crock pot, put on the lid and place the dial on high for a couple of hours.

 Now remember that glass – don’t let it be empty.  When the Red Beans and Rice is almost done – trust me you will smell the fabulous aroma throughout your crib, turn on your oven.  Mom uses these Dinner Yeast Rolls.  She bought the entire pack at Sam’s for around $10.  She pulls out for, sticks them in a pan and sprays them with butter and then pops them in the oven to warm up.

In the meantime, she sets the table and tells everyone to clean up and get ready for dinner.   Now, remember the crockpot?  Open up and serve.  Afterwards if you have any leftover, remove them and then pull the bag out of the crockpot and toss it in the garbage – the crockpot is now clean 🙂

.And here is the final product.  Look at all of those spices and yum-yum!