Remember ...The Crock Pot Pork

Last week I prepared a Crock Pot Pork dinner..served over noodles. Was DELISH! You can find it here. There was quite a bit of that leftover so I put it in the back of the fridge where it's the coldest and I waited.

It was eaten for lunch two or three times and then sort of ignored and I knew then I'd have to revamp it for it gain appeal again. . So last night was the revamp.
I pulled out the pork and gravy and dumped it into a big bowl. I added one can of evaporated milk, one can of cream of mushroom soup, one can of water, and one medium bag of mixed veggies. Salt and pepper and into a greased casserole dish it went. I preheated the oven at this point and proceeded to my bread making area. Whipping up a huge batch of homemade buttermilk biscuits, I cut them out and laid them on top of the now revamped, souped up, veggie laden base.
What was this mystery dish?? Well it was KA POT PIE!  (the KA stands for Kick Ass!) Oh yeah. Bake in oven @ 400 for about 35 mins (or until bubbly and biscuits are golden)
And you know what, that pork and gravy that was going begging in the back of the fridge barely has ANY leftovers today. Go figure.
We do what we must and boy did I stretch my dollar on that dish!
Your Frugal tip of the day. DO NOT GIVE UP ON SOMETHING. Rehash it, make it new, put a spin on it and recook it or remake it different! NEVER GIVE UP!
( I so wish I had taken a picture of it, it was a most beautiful thing!) Maybe next time!

What's on the table for dinner tonight??
Chicken & gnocchi w/ cream sauce
Garlic bread
Steamed broccoli
Two weeks ago I found boneless skinless chicken breast on sale .. for 1.78$ a pound.  When I got  home, I began the process of 'making the most out of this purchase.
I cut the little side strips off the breast and bagged them up, total bags of strips = 2. I'm using one bag of strips tonight.
With the large pieces of breasts that remained  I cut them in half as if you were butterflying them, but cut all the way through, then cut the bottom tips off each one. I put 6 cut breast pieces to a bag, total bags= 4.
What did I do with the tips I cut off? Into a freezer bag of course, now I have 1 bag of 'bits and pieces' to use for soup.
How many meals does that make?? Eight. I can get 7 meals out of the one package of breasts. Total cost of the package was 10.58 round up to 11$ ..that means the meat in each meal will cost: $1.57. WOOOHOOOOO! I'm all about less then $2!

Second post of the day

UNBELIEVABLE HUH?

Well, here's some news for ya. Georgia farm women over a "Live on a Southern Farm" is having a giveaway of some chicken nest boxes that her and the hubby produce and sell. They look like this:

They are fantastic and now's your chance to try your luck at being the lucky winner of one. Go on over to "Life on a Southern Farm" and sign up..HAVE FUN! and GOOD LUCK!

Ok, now on to some delicious things.
Last Thursday was a park picnic day for us, so off we went to the park. I knew I would be pooped after a day at the park so I made sure dinner would be ready when I got home, enter the Crock Pot.

Into the crock pot here's what I stuck:
2 slices of boston butt, completely frozen (yep, hard as a rock)
 (this would be equivalent to a small roast. (we buy whole boston butts and have them cut into 1inch steaks and in this recipe, I used two)
1 small onion, rough chopped
1/2 bell pepper from the deep freeze
3 stalks of celery chopped
4 cups water
1 T. chicken bouillon
salt, pepper and a few dashes of soy sauce.
Turned the crock pot on high and walked out the door. When I got home, the aroma met us at the fence gate. YUM!!
Once inside, I gave the mixture a stir to 'pull' the pork apart, then added 2 cans of 'cream of soup'. You can choose whichever soup you prefer, chicken, mushroom, potato or celery. Since I had the mushroom on hand, that's what went in. I gave the mass a stir, boiled up some egg noodles to serve it over, veggie of your choice on the side, added a few dinner rolls to the fare and dinner was DONE!  DELISH! Try this one, you won't be sorry!
Ohh, this made enough to serve 6 that night, 2 work lunches and I still have a small/medium container in the fridge for munching on for lunches. If I have any leftover today, I'll put it in the fridge and when I've got some leftover mashed potatoes, I'll put it all together with some freshly chunked cooked potatoes for a hearty potatoe/pork soup! :) 

So you're frugal tip for the day, NEVER throw it at all possible. Think ahead about what you can 'change' it into and freeze it for later use. You MUST become the Fairy Food Godmother and wave a magic wand over some things to make them last!

Get out the Big Iron Skillet Ma!

I'm bringing home the bacon! Ok..well pork, but either way..

We go the store and buy whole Boston Butts when they go on sale (and they do about every 3 weeks or so) and have the butcher cut them into 1" steaks. We love to grill them out on nice days..and on days when it's not so nice..here's what we do! This is a comfort food and oohhh so yummy!

Iron Skillet Pork Steaks

2-4 pork steaks ; It usually only takes us 2 steaks, because they are so big..but you can use pork chops or even pork pieces for this recipe), the total poundage is about 2lbs.
Vegetable oil for searing
Onion powder
Garlic Powder
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Lrg. Onion, done in 1/2 slices or chopped (your choice)
1 small pkg mushrooms, sliced or you can use 2 small cans of stems and pieces (Or you can leave out the mushrooms!)
2 cans of 'cream of soup'. I choose mushroom usually, but you can vary it. Celery, chicken, mushroom or a mixture of any two! Experiment..that's what the kitchen is anyway..and in home lab!
1 soup can of water
1-2 teaspoons beef bouillon powdered. This and the water can be replaced with one can of beef broth if you'd prefer.
1 Tablespoon Worcester Sauce

Ready? Get the oven heated up, 350. While that's heating, put enough oil in the bottom of the skillet to coat well and heat. Season the steaks with the onion, garlic, salt and pepper and brown on both sides.
Turn off the heat once they are browned and top with the chopped or sliced onions and mushrooms.
In a bowl mix together the soup, beef bouillon, water, (or the 1 can beef broth),Worcestershire sauce and mix well. Pour over steaks in skillet.
Put skillet in oven, covered (use aluminum foil if you don't have a lid to fit your iron skillet)
Bake 1 1/2 hours.

* I usually make rice for the side dish here and a veggie. The gravy is to die for and can be used on rice, biscuits, noodles, potatoes or even cornbread!..you decide! ENJOY!

*If you don't' own a cast iron skillet..the first thing I say is 'GO GET ONE!'..but if you don't have one, transfer the steaks to a casserole dish, then continue with the recipe, adding the onions and mushrooms and soup/gravy mix.

Enjoy! You wont be disappointed!