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High School Grad Party for 50

June 22, 2009 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

When you’re entertaining, you need to balance money, time and taste.  I just had a grad night party for my eldest and I won’t say it was the cheapest I could have done, but it was reasonable and balanced the time I had available with the money I had available. My daughter wanted a “simple” [...]

How to Roast Garlic

June 1, 2009 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

Roasted garlic is one of those things that seems to have some underserved mystique about it. The mystique about the flavor is well-founded. It is deliciously soft and smooth and wonderful.  But any mystique about its preparation is not.  Set aside half an hour or so and know that you can roast garlic ahead of [...]

Sausage, Fried Potatoes, and Fried Apples (and Onions)

April 27, 2009 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

I had bought some beef smoked sausage a while back when it was on sale and threw it in the freezer so I pulled it out for dinner tonight as time was lacking and children were hungry!  I usually serve sausage like this or kielbasa with fried potatoes and sauteed apples. I had some older [...]

Guest Post: Bacon, Onion, Parsley and Yogurt Omelet

March 24, 2009 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

Hi, I’m Allison, Ellen’s youngest daughter. Tonight, my sister was out, so I decided to make dinner for my mom. It was my first time cooking a meal on my own, and mom enjoyed it so much that she told me I had to blog it. I decided that my meal was going to be [...]

Soup from Leftovers

March 19, 2009 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

I made a soup tonight from bits and pieces and it turned out quite good. I had a tub of some leftover frozen squash and corn and lima beans in the freezer, which I incorporated. I had also frozen some leftover tortellini one night, thinking it would be good in soup.  When I make chicken [...]

How I Cook

March 2, 2009 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

When I was first learning how to cook it took all my attention just to get everything on the table, hot, at the same time. But once you’re past that stage, you find lots of time where you have a spare 10 or 15 or 20 minutes while you’re waiting for something to happen. If [...]

Keeping a Price Book

October 31, 2008 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

I’ve written before about keeping a price book, a list of your best prices for groceries. I had gotten out of the habit and with food prices increasing so quickly, I decided it was easier to just start from scratch. I started one on Google Docs that you can view here: price book. I’m hoping [...]

How to Peel Fresh Tomatoes

August 25, 2008 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

In the past, I’ve mostly just passed on the whole idea of peeling tomatoes. I mean, I don’t mind the skins and I’m sure, as my mother always said, that the skins hold lots of the vitamins and other good-for-you things. But sometimes you want the finer aspect of skinned tomatoes. I would put on [...]

Some Ideas for Using Leftover Bread and Bagels

February 4, 2008 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

It’s easy to throw stuff away when it’s gone stale but it’s amazing how much food the average household in America throws away every year. Would you believe over 450 pounds? That’s about 14 percent of the food brought IN to the house. And doesn’t count the food that goes down the garbage disposal or [...]

Here's a Quick Way to Save Money on Your Food Bill

February 2, 2008 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

Running into a month where money’s totally tight and you need to do something drastic to avoid spending money? Here are some quick tips. Make an inventory of what you have on hand Look in your pantry. Look in your refrigerator. Look in your freezer. Make a list of every meal you can make based [...]

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