Whole Wheat Peach Muffins

This recipe took me a while to figure out. I tried two different recipes, made several bad attempts and several bad revisions before finally getting it right with this recipe. My husband and I love them.

This recipe makes 12 muffins.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1/2 cup + 2 Tblsp sugar
1 1/2 cup peeled, pitted, chopped peaches (3-4 med.)

Directions:
1. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix with large whisk.
2. In small bowl mix milk, oil, egg and sugar.
3. Mix together dry and wet ingredients. Do not stir too much; batter should be lumpy.
4. Fold 1 + 1/4 cup peaches into batter, reserving 1/4 cup for tops.
5. Heat oven to 375. Grease muffin tin very well.
6. Fill muffin cups approx. 2/3 full (about 1/3 cup)
7. Sprinkle reserved peaches over tops of each muffin cup.
8. Place in oven. Raise temperature to 400. Bake approx. 20 minutes.
10. Cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto dishcloth. Keep inverted while cooling.

Note: Be sure to grease the tin VERY WELL as they have a tendency to stick.

For more kitchen tips go to Tammy's Recipes.

Cheap Shake N Bake

Today I'm posting the recipe I recently came up with for a homemade "Shake 'N Bake" chicken coating. I was inspired by a recipe found in "The Tightwad Gazette" but, have changed it sufficiently, that I feel I can claim it as my own.

• 1 cup homemade bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup unbleached flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup wheat germ (can be left out to be even cheaper)
  
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 T paprika
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 2 T vegetable oil

Mix well. Use just like you would "Shake 'N Bake". Store indefinitely in the refrigerator in a covered container.

This version is a whole lot cheaper than the store-bought variety.

For more Kitchen Tips go to Tammy's Recipes.

Chicken Stir Fry

One of my husband's favorite meals is stir-fry, and I love it because it's fairly inexpensive, healthy and quick to make. That means it's a home run in our family. I usually make it without paying much attention to quantities, but since I planned to post this one, I decided to measure a bit. This recipe feeds my family of 2 adults + 2 small children and leaves leftovers for lunch for the adults as well.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of rice, prepared according to directions on bag
  
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast - cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1 each of 3-4 vegetables - cut into 1 inch chunks: choose veggies you already have on hand and your family likes or choose what's inexpensive that week. (The picture above includes, onions, carrots, celery and yellow pepper that was on a good sale that week.)

Sauce:

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 2 T white cooking wine (optional - substitute water or leave out)
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 T cornstarch

Directions:

1. Put rice on to cook
2. While rice is cooking, prepare meat and vegetables. Be sure all meat and veggies are ready before you begin cooking. Once you start cooking this moves very fast.
   
3. Heat wok (or large skillet) on high heat. Add 1-2 tablespoons canola oil.
4. When oil begins to shimmer, place meat in wok (be prepared it may "spit"). Spread it out a bit so all pieces of meat are touching the wok bottom. While the meat is cooking, mix the sauce ingredients together. Cook meat 2-3 minutes, then stir to cook completely through. When meat is completely cooked through (about 4-5 minutes), remove from pan to serving bowl. Cover serving bowl so meat stays warm while remaining veggies are cooked.
5. You probably won't need more oil, but if it's looking dry, you can add a bit. Be sure the oil is good and hot before adding veggies. Cook veggies in descending order of how long they will take to get hot-through. You want them crunchy, not soft and squishy. Here's the order I cooked our veggies in: onion, carrots, celery, sweet pepper, mushrooms. I cook each vegetable about 1 minute, stir, move them to the outside, then add the next vegetable. After 1 more minute I stir the vegetables, move them to the outside, and add the next vegetable. This continues until all the veggies are hot, but still crunchy.
6. Pour the meat back into the wok and give everything a good stir. Move meat and veggies around so that there's a small well in the middle of the pan.
   
7. Pour the sauce into the middle and immediately begin to stir. The sauce will thicken quickly and coat the meat and vegetables. When the sauce is thickened and everything is well coated (about 1-1 1/2 minutes), pour the whole mixture into the serving dish.
8. Serve with rice and soy sauce.
   

My Note:
This recipe is very adaptable. Don't have chicken thawed? Leave it out, make it vegetarian. Have an uncooked pork chop? Use that instead. Have a bit of broccoli left? add it in. Use whatever veggies you have available. These are all veggies I have tried & used at one time or another: broccoli, onions - any variety, carrots, mushrooms, sweet peppers, celery, green beans. I'm sure you could play around with other veggies as well, though I don't recommend tomatoes or potatoes or anything that doesn't stand up to high heat.

Enjoy!

For more kitchen tips go to Tammy's Recipes. And for more Frugal recipes and ideas go to Frugal Friday at BiblicalWomanhood.

Frugal Granola Bars

Several months ago, after Dear Husband (DH) was diagnosed with reflux, I started making my own granola bars. He needs to eat many small meals each day, rather than 3 larger meals. There are also a host of foods he cannot eat. Granola bars were a good choice for him, but buying them was expensive. So I began a search for recipes and found: this one

I started with this basic recipe and have tried a few variations, some successfully, some not so much. The original recipe is still very good, though I usually leave out the cinnamon and add peanut butter instead. AND, it’s cheaper than store-bought. Here’s how it breaks down:

Nature Valley Granola $2.50/12 (if bought on sale) = $.21/bar

Mix Together:
3 C Rolled Oats @ $0.22/Cup = $0.66
1 C Wheat Bran @ $0.38/Cup = $0.38
1 t baking powder @ $0.02/tsp = $0.02

Melt Together:
1 C Butter @ $2.00/lb = $1.00
1 ½ C Brown Sugar @ $0.29/Cup = $0.44
1 t Vanilla @ $0.10/tsp = $0.10

Pour melted ingredients over dry ingredients and mix until completely wet. Press mixture into greased 10 x 15 ½ bar pan. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes. Let cool for a while, refrigerate several hours or overnight before cutting.

Total cost for Home-Made Granola Bars $2.60/33 bars = $0.08/bar

Savings per bar: $0.13! So making the bars from scratch is less than half the cost of buying them! My family eats A LOT of granola bars. Over the course of a year if we eat only 1 bar per day that’s $47.45 saved. That’s enough to fill the gas tank – even at $4.00/gallon.

Despite many tries, I still haven't gotten them as crunchy as my son likes them, so I may revise this recipe in the future. I'm planning to try them with canola oil instead of butter next.

Make your own granola bars is my Kitchen Tip for Tuesday. For more ideas visit Tammy's Recipes here.

Honey Garlic Chicken

As promised, here is the recipe. We love it, it's really pretty easy.


6 Chicken pieces
1 ½ t garlic powder
3 t salt
¼ t ground black pepper
1 egg yolk
2 T honey
4 T margarine/butter – melted

Preheat oven to 350.
Place rack in baking sheet with lip. Spray rack with oil.
Mix garlic powder, salt, pepper. Rub mixture into chicken pieces.
Place chicken skin side down on rack.
In small bowl, beat egg yolk, honey and butter. Brush over chicken.
Bake 30 minutes at 350.
Turn chicken over and baste with remaining butter/honey mixture.
Bake at 400 for approx. 20 minutes or until internal temperature equals 180.

Notes: I found the original recipe on allrecipes.com, but wanted more garlic so altered it to the above recipe. I use chicken thighs and legs; if you use breasts you may want more of the spice rub. I also suggest lining the pan with foil as this makes a sticky mess as it bakes. This recipe would also be good on the grill. (Also, I'll try to get a photo up soon.)

Peanut Butter Banana Circles

My picky kids have recently discovered a new favorite (healthy!) snack. - Take one banana; slice into circles; add small dab of peanut butter; freeze long enough to fix a drink; serve. They love these "Peanut Butter Banana Circles". I love them because they are inexpensive and healthy. It doesn't get any better than that!

For more frugal ideas go here: here