Eeeeewwww! Natural Roach Control

I live in South Florida. They call them "palmettto bugs" to make themselves feel better. But they are roaches. Awful. Yucky. Skittery. OH DEAR GOD IT IS HUGE roaches. They suck. And they come out in record amounts in the summer months. When I lived in apartments I never had roach problems, because I was never on the first floor and because most landlords down here have a contract with a pest control service.

We rent a house from a private owner. He does not have a pest control contract. Our backyard is beautiful. Full of tropical plants like a jungle but with better landscaping. We love it. But... OMG BUGGGGGGGGS!!!!

Here is what I have found that works. Bay leaves. No, I am not kidding. Bay leaves. But you gotta buy them from either a big box store like BJ's or order them in bulk online. Their effectiveness lasts about 3 months, then you have to sweep them out and replace them with fresh ones. But while they are there, the Palmetto Bugs (aka Big A** roaches) will NOT be there. If you buy your spices from the grocery store, just contract an insecticide service, because you will pay more for the bay leaves than you will for the service. But if you buy in bulk, not only are you not adding poison to your house you are saving $ as well.

The more you know.... (rainbow graphic here...) Ding.

Savings for Members of BJ's

Right now BJ's has whole chickens for .89/lb and whole smoked, uncooked shank portion Smithfield hams for $1.39/lb. Winn Dixie also had the same hams for $1.39/lb. So get ready to roast, people. I have a great, easy method for roasting whole smoked, uncooked hams. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy:

• 1 whole uncooked ham
• 1 cup apple juice
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 TBS whole cloves
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 325. Rinse the ham under cold water and remove that plastic thingy from the bottom. Why is it there? I have no idea. 
• 
  
• Cut skin off ham, leaving the fat. You want the fat for cooking, you can cut it away if you don't want to eat it - and if you don't WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY??!!!?? That stuff is GOOD!!!! Just don't overdo it. You don't save a penny if you need a bypass later. 
• 
  
• Whew (smooths hair), sorry about that. Anyway, rinse the ham, trim off the skin. Put a rack into a large roasting pan. Baking racks work fine for this. (Yes, those things you cool the cookies on.) Place the ham on the rack, score the fat and push whole cloves through each diamond or square shape created by scoring the fat. 
• 
  
• Mix together the apple juice, water and brown sugar. Pour over the ham. Cover TIGHTLY with foil. You want the ham to steam and roast at the same time. Roast for 20 minutes per pound. Remove foil. Baste with lovely juices from bottom of pan and roast an additional 1/2 hour to get a lovely browned goodness. Let rest for 20 minutes and then carve and serve. 

What is wonderful about this roast ham is that if you bought enough you will have leftovers for ham salad, ham sandwiches, fried ham with apples for breakfast, and a nice bone with which to make a really good soup. Split pea, black-eyed pea, ham and rice - the choice is yours.

Miami Produce Savings

If you live in Miami-Dade county, it is worth a once-a-month drive to Lorenzo's Italian Farmer's Market. They are just north of 163rd street on Dixie Highway. Their produce prices are now about 20% LOWER than Publix prices and their produce is usually locally grown. They have GREAT stuff. Plus they have a corner in the back with quick sale items that are great if you plan to cook them the same day or the next day. I once found a package of hen-of-the-woods mushrooms marked down to $1.29/lb from $12.00/lb!! I made mushroom ravioli that night and it was heavenly! This last shopping trip I got some lovely fingerling potatoes from the quick sale area. I got two pounds for $1.25. They were divine - roasted with butter, parsley, salt and pepper. An example of the savings: their zucchini and yellow squash at regular price are $0.99/lb. Publix had these on SALE for $1.29/lb.

They also have an Italian Market just south of the Farmer's Market. Bargains are more scarce there but they have the quality of Whole Foods at a Publix price. For example, I got their hand-made-on-premises Italian sausage for the same price as Publix, $3.99 a pound, but made the same day so it was much fresher and much more flavorful. They also have Italian cheesecake for $7.99 - I think the same cheesecake at Publix is around $12. They have fresh pasta as well. Not as much of a bargain but oh, SO good! But if you are really into saving money make your own. It is very cheap and super easy. You will need a pasta roller. Look for a post later about making homemade pasta for pennies a pound.

Hope this is helpful!

Dried beans, people! Do you have them?

Cos you need them. If you are coming up short every month and you stay at home with the kids you HAVE the time for dried beans. They are easily 1/3 the cost of their canned variety and are easily used as a meat substitute. Today I am making an Indian chickpea dish, Chickpeas Moghlai-style, from Madhur Jaffrey's highly-recommended "World Vegetarian". Now, obviously, given the last recipe I referred to, we are NOT vegetarians. We are realists. Most of the rest of the world's population subsist on vegetables first, meat second. My parents' generation had meat only one or two times a week, and sometimes not even that frequently. They were older... born during the Great Depression, poor, and had to eat beans and rice many an evening. And get this - if you make it right, beans and rice are REALLY GOOD. I mean DELICIOUS good. And cheap. And you know I loves the cheap.

So grab yourselves a copy of Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. I am not getting paid to endorse this. I am not even sure I am not blogging into the wind. But believe me, in lean times that cookbook is a lifesaver. It offers vegetable based meals that are easy on the wallet and are not only Indian, but Caribbean, Central and South American. All good stuff and most don't require any expensive ingredients.

Also, if you have to buy some spices for the dishes, keep them in the freezer. In fact, I keep ALL my spices in the freezer. They last longer as long as you only take them out long enough to measure out the correct amount and put the bottle back immediately. Do not let condensation build up inside the container. Water, light and humidity are the enemies of spices, but I have stretched the life-span of all my spices and herbs by freezing them and handling them carefully (i.e., briefly) when I use them.

Money Saving Chicken and Dumplings Recipe

My 3 year old asks for me to make this about once a week. It is from All Recipes (a site I use frequently). You can change up the veggies to suit what you have on hand.

Two things I do differently:

1. Because it adds more flavor, I usually sweat the carrots, celery and onion in one the healthier tub margarines you can buy before adding them to the broth. Butter is so expensive I save it for things that REALLY need it for flavor. My favorite margarine is Move Over Butter, made from vegetable oil and buttermilk. It is yummy AND less expensive than other "healthy" butter substitute spreads. I can only find it at Winn-Dixie, though. 
2. I mix the dumpling dough in my food processor. SO much easier and comes together in seconds. 

I won't reprint the recipe here just add a link to it since there are really no significant changes I make to it myself. It will serve you for a couple of days and if you buy chicken leg quarters in bulk you can sometimes find them as low as $.79/lb on sale. Skin them before you make the broth and you save time having to skim the fat later.

Chicken Stew with Dumplings from All Recipes.

RE: CLJ Mom's Meatloaf Comment

CLJ - I forgot to add that I usually grind up my oatmeal in my food processor so the toddlers don't recognize it. They are 2 and 3 and can be picky at times. You CAN use it whole, tho, doesn't change the taste at all and the texture just a little. Probably better to have the whole grain of the oatmeal but if I can sneak the flaxseed and the oatmeal in there without being noticed I feel a little better about them eating red meat.

Also, it may sound paranoid but I always buy a roast and grind the meat at home. The meat tastes a LOT better ---- worlds different from ground beef you buy at the store and I don't have as many fears about e-coli. You know, I have found it pays to know your butcher. Even at a large, big-box chain store like BJ's those butchers will take the time to talk to you about the meats you are choosing and they have all agreed with me that the best way is to buy the whole cut and grind just before cooking. Just too much air and moisture is worked into the ground meat from the surface of the roast as the cell walls are broken down and the moisture combined with the air provides a perfect breeding ground for nasty buggies. 

It is cheaper, too. And I am all about the savings. Typically at my BJ's the eye of round 5 pound roast is around $2.59 a pound (smaller cuts cost more), while the hambuger runs anywhere from $2.99 to $3.25 a pound depending on fat content. At regular grocery stores the cost for ground beef, unless it is on sale, is even greater. 

I hope I don't have to tell you not to buy what they call "chubbs" - those sausage looking tubes of ground beef. YEARS ago I used to work at a meat processing plant (Bryan Foods, since defunct) and that is the worst, lowest grade ground beef you can buy. If that is all you can afford, I have a GREAT lentil curry recipe I can give you. ;^). Seriously, don't eat that stuff. It should be outlawed.

Apologies

Just re-read a lot of my posts. Typos a go-go... sorry about that. That drives me crazy!!  I vow to do better.