by Kristin on July 24, 2010
This week, my goal was to use up food I’ve got around the house. Last weekend, I posted on Facebook that I was cleaning out my refrigerator. I like doing this every few months to take stock of what I have and see what I need.
There were some things in the freezer that were unrecognizable. There were some really good things in there too. This week, I decided to use whole chicken breasts, beef tenderloin and pork tenderloin. I don’t normally buy beef tenderloin, but we purchased a whole loin for $5.99 a pound at the grocery store around Mother’s Day and these were the leftovers from that.
The chicken breasts were roasted. They came out awesome. I brushed them with a bit of BBQ sauce and served them with a side of pasta. The pasta was awesome. I think it actually came out better than the chicken. I used onions, peppers and mushrooms but you could really use any veggies you have in the house. This would be great with zucchini or squash.
Parmesan Bowties
1 lb bowtie pasta
1/2 cup each: onions, green peppers and mushrooms, diced or 1 1/2 cups of whatever veggies you have in the house.
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 stick of butter
olive oil
1/4 cup marsala wine, dry white wine or chicken broth
1/2 Parmesan cheese
pepper to taste
Cook the bowtie pasta, removing a minute or two before your preferred level of doneness (is that a word? Ah it is now!). The pasta will continue to cook in the sauce, so take it out of the water a bit early. Drain the pasta and set aside. Return the pot to a medium high burner. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and a bit of olive oil. The oil will prevent the butter from burning. Add the veggies and garlic. Cook for two minutes. Add the remaining butter and wine/broth. Cook for a few minutes, turn off the burner then add the cheese and pepper. Once the cheese is melted, add the pasta and stir to coat.
This is a great side dish for the summer because it’s good at room temperature and it goes with almost everything.
I’ll be sharing more of my use it up recipes as I try to cut back on my grocery bills.
by Kristin on July 21, 2010
Look! I’m alive! Really! Well, kinda. Maybe. I think the jury is still out on that one.
I must say, I have tremendous respect for those of you who blog everyday. I really don’t know how you do it. Every time I think I might have time to get a post in, the phone rings. It’s always my life at the other end of the line, dead set on pulling me in another direction.
So far, this summer has proven to be a hectic one. I’ve been teaching four days a week since the spring semester ended. As I write this, my students are taking an exam. My only “day off” has been Fridays, which I generally use to meet with clients and get to other things I don’t have time for during the week.
After months of pain, limited mobility, doctor’s appointments and physical therapy (which was a complete waste of my time), I finally have a diagnosis on my hip pain. It’s nothing serious and now that we know what’s wrong with it, I’m with a new physical therapist who is helping me fix it. I’m still stiff as a board and things are still painful, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
You probably know if you live in most of America, that it’s been hot as hell for the past few… well, months now I guess. We had a very hot and humid June and July is not really getting much better. We got the electricity bill for last month and I almost fainted. My utility bills are still less expensive in the summer than the winter though, so that made me feel a little better. I’ve programmed the thermostat to raise the temperature during the day to cut back in costs. We’ll see how that goes.
So with the schedule of classes to teach, physical therapy appointments and clients, I haven’t really had a lot of time to spend money. Keeping busy is a great way to be frugal. No time for shopping, except grocery shopping. Luckily most afternoons I have enough time to make a lovely dinner. It’s been too hot for homemade bread though, which Jeff and I miss quite a bit.
So things with the budget are going well. We are paying things down. I’m developing a plan for the fall since my income will increase greatly with the full-time teaching position. We are going very intense for the next 9 months to pay a lot of things off. We are going to be in a great financial position by May, Lord willing.
What I look forward to most, is August. I’ll have almost an entire month with no classes. It’ll be time to take some time to relax, get prepared for fall and just enjoy a bit of summer.
What are you doing this summer? Do you find you spend more or less money in the summer?
by Kristin on June 8, 2010
Sunday, we had another bacon, cheese and chocolate potluck at the house. It was a huge success. Of course, I forgot to take pictures but some of my friends did and I’ll grab them as soon as I can.
I have to share my recipe with you because it was a huge hit and was super simple to make. I actually had everything on hand to make it! I adapted my recipe from this Taste of Home recipe. I know it’s not authentic pasta carbonara, I would actually rate it more an alfredo than a carbonara, so I’ll name mine that instead!
Bacon mushroom alfredo
- 1 lb short cut pasta (I used bowties)
- 1 lb of bacon
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 2 to 4 cloves of garlic (I used 4)
- 2 4oz cans of sliced mushrooms or 80z package fresh sliced mushrooms
- 1 stick of butter
- 1 1/2 cups of half and half (I think fat free would work just fine)
- 1 T dried parsley
- 6 to 8 drops of hot sauce
- black pepper to taste
- 2/3 to 3/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
Heat a large pot of water to a boil. Heavily salt the water and add pasta. Cook until al dente. You want to undercook the pasta a bit because it will cook a bit when you mix everything together. Drain the pasta when done and set aside.
While the pasta is cooking, dice the pound of bacon. Cook in a large skillet or wok until crisp. Remove the bacon to paper towels to drain. Drain the bacon grease reserving about 2 tablespoons in the pan. Add the onion and mushrooms to the pan. Mince or grate the garlic and add that as well. Cook until the onions are translucent and the whole thing is fragrant. Remove the mushroom mixture to a bowl.
In the same pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the remaining ingredients to the butter. Raise heat to medium high and simmer until the sauce reduces and thickens. Add the mushroom mixture and the bacon back to the pan. Mix thoroughly, then add the pasta. Mix it all up and serve.
I know this is not the most diet friendly recipe, but you could use turkey bacon, a butter substitute and fat-free half and half. Plus, this recipe is enough to feed a good sized crew. Add a salad and some bread and you’ve got an awesome meal.
