Two quick ways to save on the stove

Here are two related ways to save energy while you’re cooking on the stove, which is where a lot of the energy is used in my kitchen.

This first one comes from a Homefront pamphlet, and I was able to start doing it immediately, with visible results. Once something has started to boil (rice? potatoes? quinoa?), turn down the burner to as low as possible. The pot will usually keep right on boiling, and most grains actually respond better to lower boiling temperatures.

I can’t remember where the second tip came from, but it takes some practice to implement. In the last stages of cooking, turn off the burner. This works best if you cook with lids on, and is the only solution to not overcooking GF noodles. The pots and pans retain enough heat to finish off the last few minutes of cooking (say three ish, maybe five?), unless you are trying to do something specific, like caramelize. As an example, when I flip the last batch of pancakes on to the uncooked side, I turn off my burner. The pancakes finish off on their own from the residual heat, and I’ve save myself a bit of gas. This also works very well with pots of boiling grain and vegetables, as long as the lid is on.

I can’t tell you exactly how much energy would be saved by following these two tips, but every little bit helps, right?

Fried Apples and Onions

Ah, fried apples and onions, you have saved me on many a hungry fall night.  I think, technically, this is supposed to be a side dish for some kind of roast meat. but since I rarely roast meat, I am perfectly happy just serving fried apples and onions on their own.  This dish is really the perfect way to use up the glut of apples and onions that comes in late fall and winter, especially when so little else is available fresh.

For each person, thinly slice one onion and one cored but not peeled apple, and also chop well about half a slice of bacon.  In a very large pan, fry the bacon and onions together, pouring off excess grease if necessary.  Once the onion is soft, layer in the apple rings, sprinkling a teaspoonful of sugar here and there throughout (depending really on your own taste and how sweet your apples are). Cover and leave the apples to soften, stirring them as little as necessary.  Once the apples are soft, the dish is ready to be eaten.  I serve this with potatoes, but it can go with whatever you fancy.

A frugal pancake recipe

For Double Dip Monday today, I thought I’d post a recipe for an instant meal, more or less.  I frequently have some kind of frozen vegetable that I use for baking, such as zucchini or pumpkin, or a fruit such as frozen banana, hiding in the depths of my freezer and no plan for dinner.  I throw this together for the three of us, and it works most of the time.

1 cup of pumpkin puree/ grated zucchini/ mashed banana/ apple or pear sauce/ etc.

1-2 tablespoons of sugar, depending on how sweet you want your pancakes

2 tablespoons of oil

2 eggs

Beat all of this together until well incorporated, then add 1 cup of gf flour with 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 tablespoon dried milk, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  You may also add in other flavors such as vanilla or spices.   If the mixture is thick, thin with a bit of milk.  If the mixture is thin, add in a bit more flour.  Depending on how runny my veg/fruit add-in, I generally use somewhere between one cup and 1 1/2 cups of flour.

Make pancakes as normal on a well-greased griddle.  Serve with jam, honey, peanut butter, syrup, etc. depending on what flavor you have going.

Cock-a-leekie (GF)

We have been eating cock-a-leekie for the past few days, thanks to the huge pot of it I made over the weekend.  I was rummaging around in the freezer looking for beans, and discovered that Mother-in-Law had left half a chicken in there (as you do).  Cock-a-leekie makes a nice change from the standard chicken noodle fair, especially when I already have leeks and carrots in the fridge.  Besides, with a name like cock-a-leekie, it is nearly impossible to not enjoy this soup.   As with most soups, it tastes better the next day.

In a big stock pot, cover the equivalent of half a chicken, including bones, with two ish litres of water (about two quarts, give or take), throw in a few peppercorns and a couple of bay leaves, and bring slowly to a boil.  Let it boil for the better part of an hour, and chop up two big leeks and three or four carrots into nice chunks.  Once the stock has become strong enough, throw in the veggies and continue to boil.  You can also add in some salt now, or wait until the very end.  After about twenty minutes, drop in a cup or so of either buckwheat groats or brown rice, and cook until soft.  Remove the chicken pieces, shred the meat, and return it to the pot.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and eat!

Welcome to Double Dip Monday!

Welcome to Double Dip Monday, the first of a weekly installment I will be doing in honor of the second recession we are now in here in Europe.  For this first post, I thought I would recap the menus I planned for last week, and what we managed to eat.

We were away until Tuesday, so this isn’t a full week’s menu.  I was also using up what was leftover from the holidays, which accounts for some of the more extravagant dishes.

Tuesday dinner was relatively basic – fried apples and onions, with mashed potatoes and a basic vegetable soup.

Wednesday started with our standard breakfast of rolls and rice cakes with cheese, and lunch was leftover dinner from Tuesday.  Dinner was lentil stew with GF oat bread rolls, similar to one the posted here (just minus the dumplings), and apple and carrot salad.

Thursday breakfast was  leftover oat bread rolls with a homemade leek and cheese spread, and lunch was leftover stew for Daughter and I.  Our dinner was a bit more upscale, with onion soup to start, followed by GF pasta with classic alfredo sauce and more apple and carrot salad.

Friday breakfast was homemade granola with milk.  Lunch was leftover onion soup, and dinner was a simple girls’ night in with more leftover onion soup, polenta, fried leeks, and the rest of the apple and carrot salad.  This was a definite step up from our usual girls’ night dinner, which is typically at the intricacy level of oatmeal.

I used Saturday to do a bunch of weekend cooking, so we started with pancakes.  I try to make enough to have leftovers for at least snacks or maybe another breakfast for one of us.  Lunch was a quick frozen vegetable risotto, while I set cock-a-leekie and ranch beans to cook.  I made GF pizza for dinner as a treat.

Sunday was a whirlwind day, starting with our regular breakfast, and including cock-a-leekie, ranch beans and hush puppies for lunch.  Dinner was more cock-a-leekie, and whatever other leftovers were floating around (pancakes anyone?).  It was a ginormous pot of cock-a-leekie, so we even have some leftover for tomorrow.

I managed to keep shopping to a minimum this past week, and I am hoping to do the same this week.  I mostly am buying only milk and vegetables, as we need them, and using up whatever I can find in our very tiny freezer and pantry.  I’m sensing bean burgers for this coming week, and something with that uses up my frozen zucchini, and possible my stewed pumpkin.