Blogging the Recession: Freezer food

See? I told you I would make food your kids will eat.  So first up in the make your own convenience food line-up: Homemade Corn Dogs.  Three reasons to make corn dogs yourself instead of buying them at the store:

1. They are cheaper-mine worked out to 26¢ per corn dog.
2. You control the quality of the ingredients.
3. They are awesomely delicious.  Like juicy and buttery and crunchy and fluffy and just incredible.

I like to have convenience foods around because on the days I work mrChaos is in charge of lunch and dinner and while he could cook, he would prefer not to.  Corn dogs are a fun and easy meal for him and the kids and only requires him to turn on the oven and cut up some fruit.  Frankly, I am quite jealous that they will be eating these without me.

It was a little labor intensive to make these from scratch, but mostly because I didn’t know what I was doing.  I am not going to include a recipe here because you can use any corn bread batter you would like.  You can even use the Jiffy box and really cut the cost.  I followed this recipe for the dry ingredients. 

• Thicken your regular cornbread recipe by adding the liquid (usually milk or buttermilk) to the rest of the ingredients a little at a time until you have a thick pancake batter consistency.  
• Pour it into a tall drinking glass. 
• Heat a pot of oil to about 375°F. 
• Skewer your favorite, juicy beefy hot dog with a disposable wooden chopstick, pat it dry then dip it into the drinking glass, turning to coat completely. 
• Immediately place battered dog into the hot oil, turning as necessary to brown all sides evenly.  It will only take a few minutes for the corn bread to cook and brown, remove and drain on paper towels.

If you have trouble getting your batter to stick, dip the battered dog into the hot oil for just a couple of seconds to set a thin layer of batter.  Allow it to cool a bit then re-batter it.  The second layer will stick much better.

Allow corn dogs to cool to room temperature then place on a baking sheet and freeze.  Once they are fully frozen, put them into freezer bags.  Reheat them at 400°F in the oven for about 20 min and serve with plenty of ketchup and mustard! 

The cost for these breaks down as follows:

• 2 packs (8 each) Beef Franks: $3.28 (on sale for $2.14 each with one $1 off coupon)
• 3/4 cup all natural preservative free local corn meal: $0.29
• 1 cage free large egg: $0.18
• 1 cup organic 1% milk: $0.47
• pantry items not included in cost: 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, bacon fat, salt, oil for frying
• Total cost for 16 corn dogs: approximately $4.22

Of course only 13 corn dogs made it into the freezer, the baby and I polished off three for quality control.  If I hadn’t bought the hot dogs on sale the total cost would have been $7.50, still a respectable 47¢ per corn dog.  Also, I probably would include some more of the pantry items in the total cost in the future but this was my first attempt and I couldn’t track down what I had paid for some of the items.

My overall impression:  The first try was a lot of work, but I know I can do it more efficiently now that I have the hang of it.  Seriously, they were so good that I know I will be making more and probably even making double this amount the next time-they go fast!

I am sorry for the silence this week, I have been busy behind the scenes setting up a new strategy for my posts.  I love the swing towards frugality that is going on in the food blogging community right now.  As the economy is only getting worse: food prices are skyrocketing and gas prices are once again creeping upward, I really appreciate everyone’s efforts.  I will be participating in Hobo Mondays at TNS but really we are feeling the recession 24/7 in the chaos household.  So begins Blogging the Recession, a period in my blog life where we will be keeping strict track of the cost break-downs of our meals.  For example, beef and macaroni? Cheap.  Bacon wrapped Pork Tenderloin? Not Cheap.  Also, I will be highlighting homemade convenience foods (the best kind) since those are the real grocery store budget busters. 

Everyone loves a good cheap food event-for a couple weeks.  Then it’s all rice and beans this and rice and lentils that.  Cheap food is boring and gross and my kids won’t eat it and besides I can never find a chicken for 49¢ and I only buy gluten free soy free dairy free dye free grass fed shade grown food.  I hear you and I feel you.  I have no choice but to make food my kids will eat (try?) and they are normal kids who only want to eat chicken nuggets and hot dogs just like your kids.  I also feed 6 on most nights so if you have a big family no worries, if you don’t even better, now you have leftovers for lunch the next day.  I also will not compromise on the quality of my food, I do buy organic meats and dairy products and certain fruits and vegetables.  You don’t have to but I do, so the cost breakdowns will include the costs of those items which means it may be even cheaper for you.  I also buy my groceries at a local grocery store that takes coupons but does not double or triple them and that sells many locally produced items but no farmer’s market and no Walmart means you may also be able to buy these things cheaper than I do.  I will include the cost breakdown of the entire meal which means the bacon wrapped tenderloin with sweet potatoes and broccoli and corn bread was a brazillion dollars and I am not even going to talk about it. Even. 

So what justifies cheap food vs. not cheap food?  I am not sure yet, unfortunately.  Beef and macaroni was $8.14 for 6 servings (w/grass-fed beef, organic veggies, semolina pasta) but Bacon Wrapped Tenderloin Feast was $22 before I stopped counting (although in it’s defense it probably served 8 easily and was delicious).  My goal is to shoot to as close to $10 per meal as I can get, but we’ll see.  This isn’t Cheap Healthy Good so I am not including the cost of normal pantry items-to be determined by me and what’s in my pantry.  I will include any exotic or unusual pantry items: for example, the locally produced preservative free cornmeal I bought that was $1.79 for 4 cups. 

But Katie, I come here for the good food! Why do you forsake me?  Hey, I want to eat good food too and I want to prove that it can be done on a budget.  At least the next time you see good food here you will know you can probably afford to make it.

So this is what Valentine’s Day looked like at my house.  After a long day at work I was able to come home to this meal lovingly prepared by mrChaos and to relax and just enjoy it.  I love cooking and staying in on Valentine’s-working together in the kitchen before snuggling on the couch with a plate of food and a glass of wine.  This meal was far less expensive than any steakhouse dinner would have been: two steaks, creamed spinach, sauteed mushrooms, and creme brulee for dessert for less than $25. 

Sauteed Mushrooms

• 2 pounds button or cremini mushrooms, whole or sliced (if cooking whole choose small ones)
• 4 tbsp butter or bacon fat
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp minced onion or shallot
• 2 oz cognac or red wine
• salt and pepper

1. Start with a large skillet at high heat.
2. Add 1/4 fat then sprinkle about 1/4 of mushrooms over melting fat before it burns (if using butter). 
3. Stir minimally, salt and pepper mushrooms to taste.
4. Once mushrooms are browned push them to the sides on the pan and add second batch of fat and mushrooms in the center.
5. Continue until the last of the mushrooms are added and also add garlic, and onion or shallot.
6. Once everything is cooked and browned to your liking, deglaze the pan by removing it from heat and adding the cognac.
7. Return the pan to the heat and scrape the bottom.

Creamed Spinach

• 1 lb fresh baby spinach leaves
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp flour
• pinch of nutmeg

1. Place about 1 inch of water in a large stock pot and add a few pinches of salt, bring to a boil.
2. Wilt spinach, stirring, for about 1-2 min. Remove and immediately rinse under cold running water.
3. Squeeze all moisture out the spinach (my favorite way to do this is to wrap it in a kitchen towel and wring out the towel) and roughly chop.
4. Warm milk and cream in a small sauce pan.
5. Melt butter over medium heat and saute onions and garlic until soft.
6. Sprinkle with flour and stir until smooth.  Cook flour mixture (roux) for several minutes.
7. While stirring constantly, pour in hot milk and simmer until thick (If too thick just add additional milk until it is the way you want it).
8. Stir in nutmeg and spinach and taste, season with salt and pepper.

You could totally substitute a package of thawed frozen spinach for the fresh if desired. Zing!  Just be sure you squeeze it really really well.

The steaks we just sprinkled with salt and pepper and seared in a hot pan for a few minutes per side until they passed the finger test for medium rare.   Follow with this:

In college, I had friends who made sushi at home.  I was impressed by their audacity but not their sushi.  It didn’t taste like restaurant sushi-the rice was far too tart and vinegary-and so I never felt any overwhelming desire to try it myself.  I just figured sushi was beyond us mortals and put it from my mind.  However, recently there have been several enticing sushi posts circling the food blogosphere and my interest was peaked.

I knew it was going to be difficult and complicated so I went for simple: California Rolls.  I looked through various recipes for sushi rice and decided to wing it.  The result was delicious and flavorful sushi rice.  And once the rice was done the actual sushi rolls went so quickly and easily I started looking for more ingredients to play with.  We finally settled on a spicy California Roll with the addition of spicy mayo, jalapeno and cream cheese.

Sushi Rice

• 2 cups sushi rice (short-grain white rice)
• 2 cups water
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp white wine
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. I combined equal parts rice and water in my rice cooker and pushed the button.  I’m sorry but I didn’t want to leave anything to chance this time.
2. Combine vinegar through salt.
3. Once your sushi rice is cooked pour the vinegar mixture over and stir and toss until thoroughly combined.

We started with the classic California Rolls: fake crab, cucumber, and avocado rolled up in a half sheet of nori with the rice on the outside and then rolled in sesame seeds.  The sushi rice is extremely sticky so I wore gloves coated in olive oil to pat it onto the nori sheets.  I flipped the sheet and rice over to make an inside out roll (our favorite).  Then I placed thin strips of the crab, cucumber and avocado in the center and used the sushi mat to roll the whole thing up.  A sprinkle of sesame seeds and the California rolls were perfect.

In fact it was so easy that the California Rolls I had planned quickly became almost boring in their simplicity.  So, I decided to spice things up with some spicy mayo and jalapenos.

Spicy Mayo

• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tsp Asian hot sauce

1. Combine mayo and hot sauce.

To the spicy rolls we added thinly sliced jalapenos, avocado, the crab, cream cheese, and a smear of spicy mayo.  We really liked the spicy roll combination and now that I know how easy it is I want to experiment with different fish-ahi tuna, smoked salmon, shrimp-and using the fryer to make some tempura rolls etc…