I like to experiment, and when I came across a YouTube video on homemade deli meat, I was intrigued. This led me down a rabbit hole of other videos, all with the same conclusion: homemade deli meat was significantly less expensive and more delicious than the stuff that you buy at the deli counter. All I needed was a “ham press,” a device that would let me make deli meat, and they were only around $25! I was in.
I’m using a lot of my gadgets, but you absolutely don’t have to be gadget-rich. I’ll list alternatives in the photos below. I’m following a recipe that came with the ham press, but there are many, many variations on this theme. My results were… well, I’ll get to that. Let’s get into the recipe, shall we?
These are the dry ingredients. Other recipes are much simpler. All of the spices were at 1teaspoon, and the unflavored gelatin was at 2 teaspoons.
I used this ground turkey. It was around $3.50 a pound, but if I had gone to Aldi, it would have been $2.50 a pound. If my experiment worked out, I could eventually make deli turkey for $2.50 a pound. In my area, the real stuff is between $10-12/pound, so that could be a real savings
I mixed the spices, gelatin, and meat in my KitchenAid. However, you could absolutely do this by hand.
Per the instructions, I added 2 teaspoons of olive oil.
I then pressed the mixture into the ham press. The press provided plastic liners, but in the YouTube videos, the demonstrators just pressed the meat mixture directly into the cylinder. Some used a little cooking spray to help with removal.
Here are the other parts that came with the ham press.
This spring contraption “presses” the meat mixture during cooking.
You have to force the lid against the spring. The milling of the ham press parts is pretty rough, so I wound up cutting myself.
Here is the complete assembly. You need to cook the meat at a low simmer, so I’m using a Sous Vide at 185°F (85 °C). You cook until the thermometer inserted into the press reaches… well, some recipes say 165°F and others say 185°F. I went with 170°F (77°C), as poultry should be cooked to at least 165°F (74°C). You absolutely could nix the sous vide and just use a pot on the stove with the water simmering. It took around two hours to reach the desired temperature.
I then placed the press in an ice bath to rapidly cool it. After that, it went into the fridge overnight.
I used a meat slicer to slice the loaf. True confession: I bought this slicer during COVID, but this is the first time that I used it. I’ll probably do a review on it in an upcoming post. Of course, you could just use a knife.
Here is the result, Yep, not picture perfect. The slices taste pretty good, actually better than traditional deli meat, as that is overly salty. But the texture? Could be better. So the verdict on this meat press is pending. I’m going to try it on some chicken breasts when they go on sale, as the problem may have been in the ground turkey tube slop. At this point, I can’t recommend making your own deli meat, but stay tuned for trial number two.
As a kid, I disliked anything that had lentils in it. However, as an adult, I really like lentils. It is funny how that works.
I make a couple of different red lentil soups; this one is a bit spicier, and it is my adaptation, so I can’t credit another source. The great thing about this soup is that you can go from start to finish in less than an hour. I’m serving it up with some Naan bread, which is more South Asian, but that is the way I roll.
If you want it less spicy, use less chili powder. Let’s take a look at the recipe.
Here we have one carrot, one parsnip, and one onion diced. One and a half cups of red lentils, rinsed. One teaspoon of cumin, a pinch of Chili Powder, 2 cups of water, 4 cups of chicken broth, 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, and a little salt and pepper. At the end of the recipe, the juice of one lemon and some chopped cilantro are added.
Cook the onion until somewhat brown. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
Add the spices and tomato paste, and stir for about 1 minute.
Add two cups of water. Add the carrot and parsnip.
Add the red lentils. You could use other colored lentils, but the red lentils look the best.
Add 4 cups of chicken broth. If you want a vegetarian dish, use vegetable broth.
Partially cover and simmer for 40 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
While the soup is cooking chop up some fresh cilantro and slice a lemon in half.
When the vegetables are soft, remove half of the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. Then return this mixture to the soup pot.
Add the juice of one lemon to the soup and mix.
Decorate the soup with some of the cilantro.
Add a bit more cilantro to each serving. Here I’m adding some toasted garlic Naan bread.
This is a simple, delicious recipe. Give it a try.
When I was growing up, I didn’t think much about meal decisions; I ate what I was given. Some meals excited me, and others were less interesting. Things are different now that we live in a world of restaurants, drive-throughs, and DoorDash. It is common to ask the question, “What do I have a taste for?” These selection options have also drifted into home cooking. Have you ever looked into a full cupboard or refrigerator and said to yourself, “There is nothing good to eat!” If so, you may be wasting food and increasing your grocery costs, something that can be especially stressful amid inflation and the Trump tariffs.
I have talked endlessly about the benefits of cooking at home, especially cooking from scratch. However, to achieve cost savings, you need to prepare what you have. If you find yourself buying groceries only to throw them out at the end of the week, you are needlessly wasting your hard-earned cash. With that said, I am also guilty of tossing wilted salads and leftovers that are past their prime. However, I am making efforts to reduce these behaviors, and those efforts are easier than they may appear.
When I was a resident physician, I was very poor. I was in the process of getting a divorce, and I needed to pay my divorce attorney, who seemed to think of me as an ATM rather than a client. I had a small child who stayed with me on the weekends, so it was impractical to share an apartment; I had to rent my own. Additionally, I was paying child support. Money was extremely tight, and the most I could spend on my weekly groceries was $20, or about $55 in today’s money. That cash had to fund three meals a day, as well as other necessities like toothpaste, laundry detergent, and the building’s pay washer and dryer. Resident physicians were not paid very well in those days, and even when I became Chief Resident of Psychiatry, I was only given an additional $100 (before taxes) a month. For that $100, I not only had to do all my regular doctor work, but also administrative duties for a 4-year residency program, including scheduling, monitoring, disciplining, training, interviewing candidates, and other responsibilities.
Aldi stores existed, but not in my area, so I shopped at “the Jewel,” our local grocery store chain. In those days, they had a generic aisle that carried inexpensive foods. These foods were clearly a cut below house brands and were objectively of a much lower grade. Once, I opened a can of green beans to find an entire plant inside, including stem and roots. The refrigerated section of the store included cheap items, like hamburger meat mixed with TVP and a generic bologna made with mystery meat products, possibly yak? One highlight was turkey legs, which, for some reason, were pretty inexpensive in those days. These were the foods that I could afford, so these were the foods that I bought.
With my doctorly, administrative, and parenting responsibilities, I didn’t have much time for elaborate meal prep, so I came up with options that were both easy and tasty. I also developed hacks to save money. For instance, it was sometimes cheaper to buy frozen hamburger patties than fresh hamburger (even the TVP stuff), so I would use 1 or 2 patties to make meatballs or a meatloaf. I had more of these simple but effective hacks; I’ll save those for another post. I figured out how to make meals cheaply and simply. I would make dinner for two and then immediately portion my meal in half. I would eat one portion for dinner and place the other in a Rubbermaid container for my lunch the next day. This simple meal prep allowed me to make two meals at once, saving me both money and time.
Most of my kids are now living independently. We cooked together for years, and they are wholly comfortable in the kitchen. They have professional, demanding jobs, so their time is limited. They are also in the early stages of their careers, and they understand that eating out all the time will hamper, not enhance, their financial progress. Based on this, they have adopted their own meal prep styles.
My one daughter has been meal prepping her breakfasts and lunches. She likes breakfast soaks (oatmeal, fruit, chia seeds, etc.), and will make 3-4 at a time. She also packs a dense bean salad for work. Apparently, these salads stay fresh for days. She picked up an Instant Pot on Black Friday and has started batch-cooking dinners. As I write this, she sent me a photo of some red beans she made and another of her using food cubes and a vacuum sealer to portion them for future meals.
My daughter sent me a photo of her batch of red beans. It made eight portions, so she needed to freeze some.
She froze portions in food cubes and then repacked them with rice for a complete red beans and rice dinner. These vacuum seal bags can be dropped in boiling water to cook or you can make a little slit in them and cook them directly in the microwave.
My other daughter has a repertoire of dinners for 4 that she has gleaned from home, friends, and a website called “budgetbites.com.” She is comfortable eating the same dinner for 4 days in a row, and that is exactly what she does. She recently sent me a photo of a roll-up lasagna that she made. It was inexpensive and made more than 4 meals, so she froze a portion or two for emergency backups. She also has my love of vacuum sealers, so those extra portions will stay fresh in the freezer for a very long time.
My other daughter found this recipe for lasagna roll-ups on budgetbytes.com. It made more than 4 portions, so she freezed a few extra meals.
Here are the lasagna roll-ups baked. Delicious!
I have a son in a PhD program who still lives at home. He is quick to grab our dinner leftovers to take for his school lunch. He likes home cooking, and the price is right!
My son will pack leftovers from our dinner for his school lunch. When he gets hungry dinner is just a press of a microwave button away.
I’m incredibly proud of my kids and their frugal habits. Each has adapted a version of batch cooking that works for them, and I’m certain that they will modify those behaviors as their needs change.
I enjoy watching food prep videos where the presenter prepares elaborate batch meals or transforms a single ingredient into 5 different dishes. However, for my kids and me, that is just too much work. Each of us has developed ways to save both time and money using batch cooking. I’m not pushing any of our methods; rather, I would like you to think about what would work for you.
Abandon the idea that every meal needs to be exciting. Buy basic foods and build a reasonable pantry over time. Explore recipes that you like. You don’t need 100 of them. My one daughter has around 10-12 dinner menus that she rotates, each serving her for 4 days. This makes her grocery shopping very easy. Since many of her menus use similar ingredients and spices, she always has what she needs on hand.
Consider purchasing the right tools for the job. My other daughter has slowly curated items to make her meal prep easy and fun. Mason jars for her soak breakfasts, an Instant Pot, food cubes, and a vacuum sealer to freeze extra meals. Yesterday, she told me that she would like a Dutch oven for her upcoming birthday. My son has a favorite commuter mug and a quality packable/leakproof food container for school. What is that container? A Tupperware one that my wife found at a thrift store that he claimed as his own.
There is no sense of deprivation; there is a joy in reducing decision fatigue and a sense of security in saving money. How great it is to know that a homemade dinner is waiting after a long workday, ready for a quick reheat. Running late in the morning? No problem, grab that jar of cold soak and eat it at your work desk. Trying to save money as a student? Easy when you have a completely delicious lunch waiting for you that only requires the press of a microwave button.
Come up with your own ideas, the ones that work for you and your lifestyle. Remember, you don’t have to be perfect. This is not an all-or-none behavioral change. Perhaps you want to meal-prep only a couple of lunches per week. That’s OK. Maybe you can’t stand leftovers. Freeze them and eat them later. That way, they are no different than heating up a purchased frozen dinner, except the quality will be better and the cost lower. Feeling left out when everyone goes out to eat? Join them, just don’t do it every time. It is all OK.
We love bananas at our house, so it is a good thing that they are fairly affordable. That said, we often discard the overripe ones, even though I’m always trying to gauge the right quantity and pick the proper greenness. It seems that they can go from optimally delicious to over-ripe in a matter of hours. Inflation and the Trump tariff taxes are straining our grocery budget, and it is criminal to throw out food. Overripe bananas can be used in a variety of recipes. They can serve as an egg substitute, be blended into a smoothie, or, in the case of today’s recipe, be used to make a simple and delicious banana bread.
There are many recipes for banana bread, but I like the classic Betty Crocker recipe from my 1990s cookbook. I believe we got that book as a wedding present, and it has been well used. I also have a 1970s edition that I bought new. Yes, time marches on! Classic cookbooks like Betty Crocker’s are wonderful because they are written for the average user. They tend to be straightforward and limit the use of exotic ingredients. They are also well tested, so users are more likely to achieve good results. This recipe is a heritage recipe, meaning that it has been popular since the mid-20th century. Let’s take a look at the ingredients.
The ingredients are straightforward, but we will make a few substitutions. You can freeze bananas in their skins for later baking use. You can also peel and mash them, adding 1T lemon juice to prevent oxidation. If you do the latter, note that 1.5 cups of mashed bananas is enough for this recipe.
These bananas are no longer edible in our home. However, they are perfect for smoothies or banana bread.
The recipe calls for 1/2 C of buttermilk, but you don’t need to go to the grocery store; just make your own. Add 1/2 T of vinegar and enough milk to bring the total volume up to 1/2 C. Let the mixture stand for around 10 minutes before using. We are not using vinegar for flavoring, so any vinegar can be used. White vinegar is very inexpensive and always good to have in your stockpile, as it has so many uses.
Cream the sugar and the butter. If you forgot to take the butter out to soften, you can soften it in the microwave. All microwaves are different, but usually 15-20 seconds is enough to turn a rock-hard stick of butter into soft butter. Don’t overdo it, as a few extra seconds can melt the butter, leaving you with a greasy mess to clean up. I started at 15 seconds, then added 3 more, and the butter reached the perfect consistency.
Here, I creamed the butter and sugar. Did I do a perfect job? Probably not, but it is good enough. I scraped down the sides a few times. You can absolutely make banana bread by hand, but an inexpensive hand mixer is a worthwhile investment, although not absolutely necessary. After the butter was creamed, I added the eggs.
Here is the mixture with the eggs beaten in. I scraped the bowl with a spatula during this process to make sure everything was mixed in.
I missed taking a photo of myself adding the bananas. I just broke the bananas into pieces and used the mixer to mash them into the batter. If I didn’t have a mixer, I would have mashed them separately and then stirred them in.
I then added the homemade buttermilk and the vanilla and mixed them in. I’m using real vanilla, but you don’t have to. Cooks often say real vanilla is the best, but that may not be completely true. Manufactured vanilla doesn’t have all of the volatile compounds of real vanilla, so real vanilla is the best choice with unheated foods, like a milkshake. However, most of those compounds are lost in baking, and in baked goods, most people can’t tell the difference between the two. Real vanilla is very expensive; manufactured vanilla is very inexpensive.
Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. When measuring flour spoon it into the measuring cup and then level the cup with a knife.
Pro tip: if you want less mess, convert the volume measurements to weights and use a food scale. Then no measuring cups are needed! However, since not everyone has a food scale, I’m going with standard Imperial measurements.
I could keep using my hand mixer, but it is gentler to fold the flour in with a spoon or spatula. When mixing the other ingredients, mix for as long as necessary. However, you should mix the flour only until it is incorporated, as you don’t want to develop gluten. Developing gluten is great for bread, which is why you knead it. However, it makes cakes, muffins, and quick breads tough and chewy, so avoid excessive mixing once you add the flour.
Here is the batter ready to go into the pans. At this point, you can add your extras. Walnuts or chocolate chips are fantastic additions. However, one of our family members doesn’t like nuts, and another dislikes chocolate (I know, hard to believe).
Pour the batter into 2 greased loaf pans. I’m using 8″ pans, but 9″ pans also work. I like the smaller pans as the loaf will be a bit taller. Per the recipe, bake at 350°F (180°C) for 1 hour in 8″ loaf pans and 1.25 hours in 9″ loaf pans. However, my bread only took 45 minutes to bake. Set your timer for less time than the recipe states and check. You can always add time, but you can’t take it away. The bread is done when the batter pulls away from the pan, and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Here are the breads out of the oven. Allow them to cool for around 5 minutes before turning out. We will eat one and wrap and freeze the other for a future treat.
Quick breads are delicious, and once you make one, you have the skill to make any other variety. A slice can be a dessert, a snack, or something to take with you on your morning commute. A nice piece of homemade banana bread and some home-brewed coffee beats an expensive trip to a coffee shop every time.
There you have it, a really delicious treat from food that most people toss in the trash. A penny saved is a penny earned!
During the 1960s and 1970s, home cooks embraced cooking shortcuts, and suggestions were everywhere from newspaper columns, to church cookbooks, to the back of packages.
My mom was right on these trends, and I have fond memories of the delicious foods and desserts she made for us, including the dump cake. A disgusting title for a delicious cobler-like cake that could be thrown together in literally seconds. Like many foods of the era, it incorporated a variety of pre-made ingredients readily available at any market.
When my kids started to move out of the house, we pondered ways to stay close and involved in each other’s lives. We wanted to see each other more than just on holidays, and we wanted to know the details of each other’s lives beyond a text exchange in a group chat. One of my daughters came up with a solution, a rotating brunch.
This month, the brunch rotation is at our house. My son suggested a “make your own breakfast sandwich,” and the rest of the family was on board. It would be up to my wife and me to figure out the logistics of such a meal, but that sort of challenge has never bothered me.
These brunches include a sweet treat, like a quick bread or a coffee cake. However, I wanted to try something from my past, a dump cake. These cakes became a hit in the late 1960s, and there are now many variations on the dump cake theme. However, I decided to go with the OG dump cake, which is cherry- and pineapple-flavored.
The dump cake isn’t exactly a cake, it isn’t exactly a fruit cobbler, it isn’t exactly a coffee cake; it is a dessert unto itself. It could be a great first cake for someone to make, and can be served warm or cold. Often, a little whipped cream or ice cream is added to further elevate the experience. Let’s take a look at the recipe.
Classic Dump Cake
1 box yellow or white cake mix
1 can crushed pineapple, including the juice
1 can cherry pie filling
2 sticks butter
1/2 C chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
Powder sugar (optional)
Spray a 9″ x 13″ pan with cooking spray and pour in a can of cherry pie filling. Spread it out.
Add a can of crushed pineapple, including the juice, and spread it out.
Spread a box of dry cake mix over the fruit. On top of the cake mix, add 1 stick of butter sliced evenly. You can add nuts at this point, but we have an anti-nut person in our family, so they were omitted.
Melt another stick of butter and add this to the top of the mixture. Note, there is no mixing of any of these ingredients.
Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 35-45 minutes, or until the top is nicely browned and the fruit is bubbling. Once cool you can dust with some powdered sugar (optional).
Here it is served with a little whipped cream. Ice cream would also be nice. It is delicious and as easy as pie. Well, actually, it is a lot easier than pie.
Many variations of this recipe use different cake mixes and fruit ingredients. A perfect and easy dessert.
By the way, the brunch was a success. We set up a self-serve bar, and everyone made their own sandwiches, choosing a croissant, bagel, or English Muffin. We had bacon, sausage, and cheese to go along with a huge batch of scrambled eggs. I did wind up burning a couple of croissants when I tried to toast them under the broiler, but we had extras. All in all, a delightful meal made sweeter with the addition of dump cake.
It is great to plan activities to keep families together. Our brunch rotates, so the burden is light on all participants. It is also early enough in the day for everyone to still have time for other weekend activities. We try to schedule the next brunch at the end of the last one, so everyone has the date on their calendars. Consider this tradition with your family.
Mike
We had a “serve yourself” bar so everyone could customize their breakfast sandwich.
I went with a toasted croissant, eggs, bacon, and cheese. Yummy!
By now, you know that I’m the self-proclaimed king of simple cooking and one-pot meals.
You also know that I remember my mother as being a fantastic cook. How did she feed 7 adults day in and day out? Often with casseroles, soups, and stews. Food that fills you up and stretches a meager portion of meat. My mom made spaghetti more like a casserole rather than the traditional spaghetti with a blob of meat sauce. I recall her making two types: one very mild and the other a bit more traditional. I loved both of them. She would always have me go to our local grocery store called “Grocerland” to pick up some fresh Italian bread to serve with our meal.
This recipe reminds me of my mother’s, but there is a twist: it is made in a pressure cooker. Making spaghetti in a pressure cooker turns a simple meal into an even simpler one. Everything is made in one pot, and the spaghetti is done 8 minutes after the pot reaches pressure. With inflation and the Trump tariff taxes, it is important to stretch every penny, or I guess nickel, since we no longer use pennies. The meal ingredients themselves are very inexpensive. Additionally, using an electric pressure cooker is one of the most energy-efficient cooking methods. Here is this very simple recipe.
Brown the meat using the saute setting on your electric pressure cooker. I’m using 1.5 pounds of ground turkey.
Drain off excess fat and add your spices.
Add the jar of spaghetti sauce.
Use the spaghetti jar to measure the water. Add one and one-half jars of water.
Add 1 can of diced tomatoes.
Break 1 pound of spaghetti in half and add it to the pot. Make sure that the spaghetti is submerged and try to separate it as much as reasonably possible (this doesn’t have to be perfect).
Set your pressure cooker for 8 minutes on high pressure. When it is done, immediately release the pressure.
Stir. Initially, the mixture may seem too watery. However, stirring not only thickens it but also breaks up any clumps of spaghetti.
Served with some Parmesan Cheese and some garlic bread. It was delicious.
This meal fed three adults, and there is plenty left for 2-3 additional meals. There was minimal cleanup, as everything was made in a single pot. The original recipe was from “The Salty Marshmallow.” However, there are many variations on this recipe. Try it, especially if you have kids. I think that they would love it.
Fact One: Two of my daughters are into sheet-pan dinners. Those are dinners where everything is made on a single cookie sheet in the oven. They will make enough for a family, and then divide up the meal into portions for 4 separate evenings.
Fact Two: Several years ago, Amazon approached me and asked me if I wanted to be an official reviewer for them. I initially thought that the offer wasn’t from Amazon and ignored it. However, they were persistent, and it turns out that Amazon uses trusted reviewers to gather product feedback. I signed up, and it has been a lot of fun as I have tested everything from kitchen appliances to tents. Amazon sends me the items free of charge and all they want is an honest review from me.
You may be wondering how facts one and two are related. Well, I was on the phone with one of my daughters, who told me she was making a sheet-pan dinner. I mentioned that I should try to make one too. Moments later, Amazon offered me some McCormick sheet-pan spice packets to review. Strange, indeed, but it was the perfect time for me to test out that way of cooking.
I’m on a mission to help others who are suffering from inflation and the Trump tariff taxes. One of the easiest ways to stretch your dollars is to pull back from restaurants and fast food. The simpler you can make home cooking, the more likely you will do it. This recipe is about as easy as you can get. I’m normally a “from scratch” cooker, but I’m not opposed to convenience. Amazon sent me a case of 12 apple/pork spice packets, and today I made packet one. Spoiler alert: I’ll be making this meal again, it was super easy and pretty tasty. Let’s get into it!
I used one packet for today’s dinner. The directions are on the back and pretty simple. First things first, turn your oven up to 425F (220C).
The recipe called for 2 pounds of sweet potatoes, but I only had 1 pound, so I added 1 pound of regular potatoes, cut roughly into 1″ cubes.
Now for the 1 pound of sweet potatoes, also in 1″ cubes.
Then I cored a couple of apples. It is OK to leave the peels on. The recipe called for 2 apples, but mine were pretty small, so I used three.
I added around 1 tablespoon of cooking oil. Feel free to use whatever oil you have on hand. I probably added a bit more than 1 tablespoon.
Sprinkle on the spice mix, but reserve around 1 tablespoon to season the pork. I didn’t measure, but it all worked out.
Mix it up until all of the pieces are coated. The best way to do this is with a clean hand. But, you do you.
Spread the mixture on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Place it in your heated oven for 20 minutes.
Season both sides of your pork chops with the remaining 1 tablespoon of seasoning mix. The packet is for 4 porkchops. We had only three diners and three pork chops. It all worked out.
After 20 minutes, take the sheet pan out of the oven and do your best to turn over the vegetables. This doesn’t have to be perfect. Clear a space in the middle for the pork chops and return the tray to the oven for 15 more minutes. That’s it.
Here is the meal plated up. It was great. Slightly sweet and slightly smoky. The seasoning was mild and not overpowering. The addition of the apple was great. I could see adding some onion wedges, too. I will definitely make this again. It was extremely easy to make; the hardest part was peeling the potatoes, and that wasn’t very hard. Delicious!
As parents, our job is to parent, and one of those jobs is to teach our kids life skills. When my wife returned to the paid workfoce I resumed the task of making meals. However, I didn’t do it solo; I involved my kids, and meal-making time became a fun and educational experience in Kunaland. Teaching your kids how to cook is vital, especially amid today’s inflation and the Trump tariff taxes. Yes, buying groceries has become ridiculously expensive, but going out to eat is even more costly.
I like making simple meals on weekdays. I’m a competent cook, but I’m not a hobby chef. Casseroles and hot dishes are perfect as they are often one-pot meals with plenty of leftovers. This recipe makes a 9 x 13 casserole, but it could be halved. It fed three of us for dinner. My son will take a large leftover portion for his school lunch, and there will be a couple of extra portions beyond that.
I was going to make a more upscale tuna noodle casserole, which I may do in a future post. However, I decided on this one as it is as easy as “dump and go.” It is a perfect recipe to teach your kids very basic cooking skills. No kids, or are they already grown? Tuna noodle casserole is still a perfect comfort food. There are many variations on this recipe, so don’t fret if you need to substitute or even omit an ingredient. A person who will remain nameless in my house hates peas. I love peas, but out of deference to her, I substituted a can of corn. Ops, did I just reveal the pea hater?
This recipe is from “All Recipes.” There are many variations on this theme.
Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package.
These are the other ingredients. I drained the vegetables and tuna. Not shown is the onion. I didn’t have an onion, so I chopped up a small shallot. I’m using canned corn, but peas would be better. Don’t forget, I have a pea hater.
Put all of the ingredients in a big bowl. If you have kids, they will love dumping everything into the bowl and mixing it up. If you like a creamier casserole, add about 1/2 C of milk. I’m only adding 1/2 of the cheese and reserving the rest for the topping. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175 °C).
Add the cooked and drained noodles and mix.
Place it evenly in a 9 x 13 pan. I sprayed some cooking spray on the dish to make clean-up a bit easier, but that isn’t totally necessary.
Top with crushed potato chips. You could use other toppings such as bread crumbs/melted butter or crackers/melted butter. Don’t have any of that? You could also forgo the topping, but it does add something.
Top with half of the cheese. You could also add all of the cheese to the casserole mix and forgo the cheese topping.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 15-20 minutes. Let it stand for around 10 minutes before serving.
I also made a small loaf of my bran and flaxseed bread in my bread maker to go along with the casserole.
Served up. A simple meal, but very comforting on a wintery day. Yes, I know… I like my butter.
If you read my posts, you know that I love gadgets. Cameras, computers, and kitchen appliances are all fun for me to use and experiment with.
I love discovering odd appliances that turn out to have practical uses. Case in point, vacuum sealers. Cast in point number two, bread machines.
Bread machines were the darling kitchen gadget of the early 1990s, but fell out of favor when the keto/caveman craze hit. People were not eating bread, so there was no need for bread makers. However, in 2026, many of us are back to more balanced diets. Personally, I believe in eating a variety of foods in moderation. I never gave up on my bread machines, and I’m still amazed at their versatility.
As we face inflation and the Trump tariffs, it becomes ever more important to find ways to save money, and cooking at home is one of them. Using a bread maker can not only save you money, it can also give you a better product.
Beyond loaves of bread, all bread makers can make dough to be used for a variety of foods, from pizza to breadsticks. With a bread maker, making dough is as simple as “dump and go.” Ninety minutes later, you have dough to shape and bake in your oven. The result is delicious homemade bread that will impress. All with a very low work-to-result ratio.
My son’s girlfriend came over for a casual weekday dinner. I was making a simple casserole and wanted to make the meal just a little more special, so I threw together some homemade dinner rolls. They were delicious, so let me share the recipe with you. This recipe is from the Betty Crocker Best Bread Machine Cookbook.
I measured the ingredients and put them into the bread machine’s baking pan in the order listed. I measure most ingredients by weight; for instance, one cup of flour is around 120 grams. I do use measuring spoons for lightweight items like salt and yeast. Measuring by weight is not only more accurate, but also easier. I place the baking pan on my kitchen scale, tare the scale to zero, and weigh my ingredient. Then tare again for the next ingredient.
The machine will mix, knead, and ferment the dough. This is what it looks like when the cycle is completed.
I’m not very good at eyeballing the dough into equal rolls, so I measured it and then divided the weight by the number of rolls I was making. This recipe makes 15 rolls; however, I only have one muffin pan that makes a dozen, so I made slightly larger rolls by dividing by 12. My math said each roll should be around 60 grams. I’m not going for precision, so this roll at 62 grams is just fine. Pro tip: I let the dough rest for about 10 minutes after turning it out of the pan onto a floured surface. This time relaxes the dough, making it easier to work with.
I flatten each roll as above. I’ll have a bit of flour on my hands so the dough doesn’t stick to them.
I drew the corners of the flattened dough into a ball and pinched it together.
I placed each dough ball into a greased muffin tin, pinched side down. Yes, these are not perfect balls. I’m a guy and a simple cook. They will still taste great. You may be concerned about the condition of this muffin pan. It has been used for over 30 years, producing thousands of baked goods. It works great, and I love it.
Place the tin in a warm, draft-free place and cover it with a light cloth. A clean cotton dishcloth works well. Let the dough rise for around 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 375°F (190 °C).
The rolls after the rise.
Bake 12-15 minutes. These rolls were baked for 12 minutes. If you’re unsure if they are done, you can poke them with a food thermometer. if the internal temperature is 190F (85C) they are done. If you want to be fancy, paint a little melted butter on the rolls. I’m not fancy, so I didn’t.
I let the rolls cool for around 10 minutes and then gently took them out of the muffin tin. You can also make free-form rolls on a cookie sheet or turn them into Parker House rolls by dividing each dough ball into three balls and placing the triplet in a muffin cup.
We ate some rolls still warm. I placed the rest into a Rubbermaid container for the next day. They reheat well with a short round in the microwave.
There you have it. Very simple, yet delicious. As good as any bakery roll, but less expensive. A perfect accompaniment to just about any meal, and what smells better than bread baking?
I’m a competent cook, but I’m not a hobby cook. I don’t mind putting a meal together, but it isn’t the driving force of my life. In fact, the only part of cooking that I truly enjoy is playing with kitchen appliances. I’m a gadget guy.
Inflation and the Trump tariff taxes are affecting me just like everyone else, but it’s clear I can reduce my day-to-day costs by cooking at home.
My son’s girlfriend came over for a weekday dinner yesterday. She has had dinner here many times and is more like a family member rather than a guest. However, I know she doesn’t do well with acidic foods, especially those with a lot of tomato products; so many of my “go-to” recipes were shelved for yesterday’s dinner. I wanted to make something she would enjoy, but it had to be easy for me, too. In this case, I upped the ante a bit by making some homemade yeasted rolls in a bread maker. I’ll likely post that recipe soon. The rolls were made the day before and kept in a Rubbermaid container. All I needed to do was make the stuffing casserole and microwave some vegetables. Easy peasy.
This recipe is from Lil’ Luna, but I have seen similar ones from many authors. It is definitely a recipe conceived in the 1970s, as it relies heavily on pre-packaged foods. With that said, it is cheap, extremely simple to make, and it tastes good.
Screenshot
I made the stuffing and set it aside. I used water plus Better Than Bouillon instead of chicken stock. You could just use water, which may be a better option as the stuffing and soup are already salty. At this point, also preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C).
I dumped all of the other ingredients into a 9 x 13 pan. It would be a good idea to spray the pan with a non-stick spray… but I didn’t, and it was fine. I’m using 1/2 of a Costco roasted chicken. I’ll buy a chicken, pull off the meat, and freeze it into two vacuum-sealed bags. This chicken was from 2024 (it is now 2026), and it was perfectly good as vacuum seal bags prevent freezer burn.
I mixed up the concoction and then added 1 drained can of mixed vegetables. You could use any vegetable, canned or frozen (thawed), that you like. Options include peas and carrots, green beans, mushrooms, or just carrots.
I then spread out the mixture.
I then sprinkled the cooked dressing over the mixture and baked it for about an hour at 375°F (190°C). You want to bake the casserole until it is bubbly and the dressing has browned a bit. I like to “over-bake” a bit to really firm up the casserole, but you do you.
Here it is plated up with a homemade yeasted roll, broccoli, and some jellied cranberries.
The dinner was a hit and served 4 of us; 2 lunch servings were left for the next day. It uses a lot of processed foods, but it’s quick to make, cheap, and tastes good.
Let’s do a price break down:
(From the Aldi US website on 1/8/26)
Stuffing mix. $1.05
Mushroom soup. $0.79
Chicken soup. $0.79
Chicken $2.50 (1/2 of a Costco $5 roasted chicken)
Canned Veg. $1.09
Butter. $0.41
Sour Cream. $1.00
Total $7.63. or $1.27 Per Serving
For these cost savings, I’m using Aldi-branded foods. The chicken is from Costco, their famous $4.99 roasted chicken. I’m only using one-half of the meat, so one chicken can be used for several meals. I’m using canned vegetables, but frozen could be substituted for a small additional up-charge. You can also use canned chicken. In that case the meal could become a shelf-stable option that you keep on your “just in case” shelf.
Add whatever sides you like to bulk out the meal. This may be a good meal to try if you are new to cooking or if you are trying to teach your kids how to cook. Teaching your kids how to cook is a great gift. I taught my kids, starting simply when they were young, and they are all competent adult cooks. They are saving money, just like me…and possibly you!
