Daily Archives: September 25, 2025

frugal cooking, frugal living

Save Money: Bake Delicious Oatmeal Sunflower Seed Bread

My bread-making adventures continue as I learn the ins and outs of yeasted products.

Making bread in a bread maker is simple, and it allows me to create special treats for my family. As I continue my bread making journey I’m starting to gain an understanding of the cause and effect of my actions. I’m also obtaining knowledge on simple things that I can do to make my efforts successful.

Today I’m making oatmeal/sunflower seed bread. I enjoy making oatmeal bread, and I’ve purchased sunflower seed bread from a local specialty market. To combine the two breads sounds perfect to me.

This recipe is from Betty Crocker’s Best Bread Machine Cookbook. I find that recipes from established sources like Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens are often very forgiving and simple to make.

The bread is delicious and perfect as a supper add-on, for sandwiches, and toast. It’s an all-arounder!

Here is the recipe. I converted some of the measurements to grams, allowing me to weigh those items instead of using a measuring cup. I’m making the 2-pound loaf.

I added one and one-quarter cups water to the pan. We have treated water where I live, and the chlorine seems to have a negative impact on yeast. Lately, I have been using filtered water from the fridge that I warm in the microwave. Other options could include bottled water or simply leaving out some regular tap water for a day or two so the chlorine can evaporate.

I’m adding the honey, 85 grams. It is much easier to weigh the honey as there are no sticky measuring cups to deal with. You can use Google to find the weight equivalents of most ingredients.

Now, 2 tablespoons of butter. The bread maker that I’m using has a preheat cycle. If it didn’t, I would have softened the butter in the microwave.

Now 4 cups of bread flour. In a pinch, you could use regular AP flour and get a slightly altered end product. Four cups should be approximately 480 grams, but I’m finding that this batch of flour requires a bit more to achieve the right consistency in the bread machine. I’m using 500 grams of flour.

Then two tablespoons of powdered milk.

Followed by 55 grams of oats. Here again, I’m weighing and not measuring.

In goes one and a quarter teaspoon of salt. When it comes to small quantities, using traditional measuring spoons is the easiest method. Also, it is easy to overshoot a small weight when using a scale. In the case of salt, an overshoot could be disastrous.

Then two and one-half teaspoons of instant yeast. Use the yeast type recommended by your bread maker. Keep the yeast away from the salt and ensure it is fresh.

Use the basic white bread course on your machine. I went for a medium crust. You will also need to add the sunflower seeds towards the end of kneading. This machine will automatically beep when it is time to do that. On other machines you may need to use a “fruit and nut” setting to get it to beep. On still other machines, an automatic compartment will open at the right time. The instructions that came with your machine will let you know what option to use. You add the seeds towards the end of kneading to prevent them from being chopped up into bits.

Here, I’m adding the sunflower seeds at the beep. These were snacking seeds, so they were heavily salted. I rinsed them off before adding them, as an incorrect amount of salt can have a dramatic impact on yeast growth. Too little salt, and you get an overgrowth; too much salt, and you kill the yeast.

Out of the oven, and it is looking good!

The texture is perfect. The bread is soft and spongy. I would suggest slicing the bread as needed. However, I slice the entire loaf as that is the only way that my family will use it. I keep my bread as fresh as possible by using a standard breadbox.

Happy bread making!

Mike

frugal cooking, frugal living, Uncategorized

Save Money, Make Clara’s Great Depression Dinner

I like history. I wouldn’t say that I’m a history buff, but I find it fascinating to learn about other times and other people. I have a special fascination for the first half of the last century. For whatever reason, that time feels familiar to me.

A few years back, the YouTube algorithm brought me to the “Great Depression Cooking With Clara” channel. The channel was started by Clara’s grandson, who was documenting her life during that tough time. In her videos, she shares budget-saving recipes that her family relied on during the 1930s. The channel became a surprise hit with over one million subscribers, likely due to Clara’s clarity and charm. Sadly, she has passed, but her legacy lives on.

One of her simple recipes was dubbed “Poor Man’s Dinner,” but I have renamed it “Clara’s Great Depression Dinner,” as I believe that captures the dish’s intent. It is straightforward to make and, of course, very inexpensive. I made it for my family as a weekday meal, so I’ll give you their taste impressions at the end of this post. 

With runaway inflation and the Trump tariff taxes, people are genuinely suffering, so this recipe is more than a trip down memory lane; it could be a cost-saving option when both bellies and wallets are empty. But first, let’s get into the recipe.

Oh, by the way. I believe that these types of recipes are based on whatever you have on hand, so I did make some modifications. I’ll let you know both her version and my slightly altered one in the photos below.

Cut up some potatoes. I was making dinner for 3 and used 4 medium to large spuds.

Chop up an onion, and slice some sausage. In Clara’s recipe she uses hot dogs, but I had some Polish sausage in the fridge, so I used that. I also had one-half of a pepper left over from a salad that I added, just because.

I believe that Clara only used salt and pepper. I added some garlic powder and a tiny bit of rosemary (around 1/2 teaspoon).

I like crispy sausages, so I browned the Polish sausages in a little oil and then removed them from the pan.

In the same pan I softened the onions and peppers.

I then added the potatoes on medium heat.

In went a tiny bit of rosemary. I probably could have used about twice as much.

Then some pepper.

And some salt. I under salt as I’ll adjust the salt when the dish is complete.

Then a sprinkle of garlic powder. Also, I added cooking oil here and there as needed. I cooked the mixture for a bit, turning the potatoes every once in a while.

I added around 1/3 cup of water.

And covered the pan to completely cook the potatoes. I continued to turn the potatoes several times to prevent them from burning. I think it took around 15 minutes to completely cook the potatoes.

I returned the sausage to the pan to reheat it. I adjusted the seasonings and tossed in some green onions. The green onions were added to give some contrast to the dish and are unnecessary.

Here it served up with a little fruit and my homemade oatmeal/sunflower seed bread.

The dish fed three adults, and two additional hefty portions were packed away by my son that he will use as two days of lunch.

So what did the family think about Clara’s Great Depression Dinner?

My son really liked it. He said it was filling and delicious.

My wife had concerns over the fact that it used smoked sausage as she had heard somewhere that smoked sausage was bad. However, she felt that it tasted pretty good.

I liked it. To me it tasted like amped up home-style hash browns. When I make it again I’ll top it with a friend egg. I think that would make the dish perfect.

Happy cooking!

Mike