Canned salmon is a good staple to have in the pantry. Salmon cakes are a quick meal when everyone is starving. The Salmon Loaf is delicious with a sauce that fits with it perfectly. The Salmon Loaf is elegant enough for company.

My family has made the Salmon Cake recipe for years. It is quick and easy and few ingredients. If you have leftovers, break up the Salmon Cake in bite-size pieces and add to a salad for lunch.

Pink salmon is milder than the red salmon and is less expensive. The red sockeye salmon looks better if you are serving it in a salad or in a dish that needs more red color. The bones in the canned salmon and do not have to be removed. Some people remove the round bones that are usually in the center. If you want to remove the round bones, drain the salmon, remove the salmon and gently open the salmon up with a fork or your fingers and you will find a row of round bones.

Salmon Cake

Oil or bacon grease
1 can salmon (drain the salmon and remove the small white round bones usually in the middle, the smaller bones are soft and do not have to be removed)
3 eggs
4-5 soda crackers (crumble them up with your hands)
Pepper to taste

Mix together in a bowl.  Put oil or bacon grease in a skillet and get it hot.  You can test it by dropping a tiny sliver of the mixture in the skillet.  It should bubble around the edges.  Take a serving spoon and fill it with the salmon mixture and gently put it in the skillet.  (This can pop so use a lid or a pizza pan for a lid).  Cook until golden brown—a few minutes on each side.  Drain on a paper towel.

Salmon Loaf

1 1-pound can (2 cups) salmon drained and flaked
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
2  tablespoons minced onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup evaporated milk
1 beaten egg

In a bowl, combine salmon, crumbs, vegetables, spices, and lemon juice. Blend milk and eggs. Add to salmon mixture mixing gently. Put the mixture in a greased 9×5 loaf pan.

Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes. When loaf is removed from oven turn it upside down on a platter or plate.

Olive Sauce

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup evaporated milk
water
1/4 cup stuffed green olives
1/4 cup chopped salted almonds

Combine mayonnaise and salt in bowl.  Blend until smooth.

Pour evaporated milk into a measuring cup and add water to make 1 cup of liquid. Slowly add to mayonnaise mixture. Pour sauce into saucepan. Mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in ¼ cup of water. Add to sauce. Cook on medium heat. Stir until thick. Add sliced stuffed green olives and chopped almonds. When olives and almonds are warm remove from heat.

If the sauce is not getting as thick as you would like, mix a little more cornstarch and water together and add to the sauce.

Enjoy!

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1. Easy Sweet and Sour Chicken
2. Canned Tuna Classics
3. Peanut Chicken with Linguini

Beans are very healthy, budget friendly, easy to cook.  Beans can be used in many different recipes.  Beans are high in protein, fiber, iron and minerals.

Growing up everyone we knew always cooked a pot of Pinto beans.  You can serve the beans as a side dish or turn them into a variety of dishes like charro beans, refried beans, bean dip, and chili.  Black beans can be substituted in most pinto bean recipes.

Great White Northern or Navy beans are mild creamy-white beans that are very good as a side dish with pork, in soup, or baked beans.

Dry beans store almost indefinitely if they are kept in a cool, dry place. If the beans have been stored for a year or more, you may need to cook them a little longer.

If you want the beans to cook in a shorter amount of time, you can sort through and clean the beans and soak them overnight in enough water to cover them.  Drain the water the beans were soaked in and continue with the recipe.

Pinto Beans

Ingredients

1 lb. Pinto beans
1 smoke ham hock or 3-4 pieces of bacon
1 tsp salt
water to cover ham hock

Preparation

Slow Cooker

Sort through the beans and remove any pebbles, or defective beans.   Rinse the beans a couple of time to make sure they are clean.  Drain the water from the beans.

Put beans in the slow cooker.  Add the ham hock or bacon.

Fill the slow cooker with water about 2 inches above the beans and ham hock.

Cover the beans and bring to a boil on high. When beans begin to boil, turn the slow cooker to low. Cook the beans 8-10 hours.

About one hour before the beans are done, add the salt and stir.  Taste the beans to make sure they are salted enough for your taste.

The beans should be tender when done.  Stir a couple of times while the beans are cooking.   Add water as needed to keep the water above the ham hock.

One pound of dry beans makes around 5-6 cups cooked beans.  Cooked beans can be frozen and used in other dishes.

Large Pot

Follow the directions above.  When the beans begin to boil, turn the stove to simmer.

Cook the beans 5-6 hours on the top of the stove.

Variations

Black beans, Great White Northern beans, and kidney beans can all be cooked using the pinto bean recipe.

Related posts:

1. Pinto Beans
2. Super Easy Slow Cooker Chili
3. Beans on Toast – Simple, Kid-Friendly Meal

Do you think feeding your family well and staying on budget is even possible?  Are you having a hard time coming up with ideas for dinners for your family? Well, I have found the cure for you, The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook.

Creation of $5 Dinner Mom

The $5 Dinner Mom is Erin Chase.  I have enjoyed reading her blog since its inception.  The blog started when the country was going through a recession and the cost of food was at an all time high.  My family was no different and we were also having problems finding enough money to buy food.  I started reading Erin’s blog and found a wealth of information.  Erin, like many other bloggers today, started putting her ideas down and wrote a cookbook known as The $5 Dinner Mom.

Inside The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook

The $5 Dinner Mom has 200 recipes for quick, easy, healthy and budget friendly meal ideas that cost less than $5 a meal. The cookbook starts out with three whole chapters on Strategic Grocery Shopping, Strategic Couponing, and Strategic Meal Planning. Erin packs in all the information and tips that she has learned in her own experience of trying to feed her family healthy, budget friendly meals.  I really enjoyed these chapters.  It was like talking with a good friend who was sharing tips.  The rest of the cookbook is broken down into several chapters of recipes for different food categories including; Pasta and Pizza, Chicken and Turkey, Beef, Pork, Soups and Stews, and Vegetarian.  The last chapter is devoted to homemade recipes like dressings, sauces and breads.   Many of these recipes are used in other recipes found in the cookbook.  The recipes all contain price breakdowns by ingredients, which is very helpful for planning your own recipes.  At the end of each recipe is a frugal fact that will help you and your family save money in the grocery store as well as time saving meal preparation tips. The really neat thing about the recipes is that they are an entire meal in one recipe and again all are $5 or less.

Testing $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook Recipes

I decided to review this cookbook so I really needed to test some of the recipes.  The first recipe we tried was the Potato Pizza Pie on page 248.  I think that the main reason I decided to try this recipe was because the picture in the book looked so yummy.  I never really realized it was a recipe from the vegetarian chapter.  This recipe was really interesting because it showed a different way to use potatoes.  I had a lot on-hand that needed to be used so it made it a perfect choice for me.   This recipe also uses the homemade pizza sauce found in the homemade chapter.  Making your own sauces can really save you some money!   According to the recipe, the total cost was $4.34.  I had everything on-hand except the carrots, so this meal was pretty inexpensive to make.  The Pizza Pie tasted a lot like pizza and was liked by the whole family. I also liked that her bread recipes included bread machine instructions.

$5 Dinner Mom Blog

You should check out Erin’s blog($5 Dinners), it is full of information on how to save money on healthy family meals, and she has lots of recipes.  Most of the recipes in the cookbook are not listed on her blog so you need to buy the cookbook to get those recipes.

 How Can I Get $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook?

 I received a cookbook to review, but was not compensated for writing a review of the book by the author or publisher.  If you are interested in buying a cookbook for yourself, you can find it on Amazon for $10.19, at the time of this writing.  I have found the cookbook very helpful for my family and I hope each of you get the chance to check it out to help your family eat healthy, easy, budget friendly dinners.

Related posts:

1. Saving Dinner – Ten for the Freezer Vol. 2
2. Making the Most of Family Dinner
3. CLOSED Giveaway: THE MEDITERRANEAN DIABETES COOKBOOK by Amy Riolo

I bought some grapes and brought them home, put them in the refrigerator, and forgot all about them…. sound familiar? A friend of mine told me to freeze them and raved about how much better the frozen grapes were than fresh grapes. I gave it a try and I have a new favorite frozen fruit.

The frozen grapes are great healthy after school snacks. The frozen grapes are fun to serve at pool parties, barbecues, and outdoor get-togethers.

It does not matter if the grapes are the red, green, or purple. The seedless grapes are easier to eat. The grapes do not freeze solid and they can replace fresh grapes in recipes since they hold their shape, color, and flavor when thawed. Some people prefer the frozen grapes with the stems left on and some people prefer them with the stems removed. Try it both ways and see what way you prefer. The frozen grapes defrost rather quickly, so take a few out of the freezer at a time.

Frozen Grapes

Ingredients

1 bunch of seedless grapes (red, green, or purple)
white sugar optional
Ziplock freezer bags or airtight container

Preparation

Without Stems
Wash the bunch of grapes and let them air dry on a paper towel. Place the grapes in a bowl and refrigerate until cool. The grapes keep their shape and texture a little better if they are cool before going into the freezer.

Pull the grapes from the stems and discard stems.
Place the grapes on a cookie sheet.
Put in freezer until frozen.
Place frozen grapes in a freezer bag or airtight container.

Alternate method
With Stems

Wash the bunch of grapes and let them air dry on a paper towel. Place the grapes in a bowl and refrigerate until cool. The grapes keep their shape and texture a little better if they are cool before going into the freezer.

Freeze the bunch of grapes, or cut apart some of the stems with scissors and freeze the smaller clumps of grapes.
Place them the grapes on a cookie sheet and freeze.
Place frozen grapes in a freezer bag or airtight container.

Variations

Roll the grapes lightly in sugar before freezing.
For appetizers, stick a toothpick in each grape before freezing.
Use a few frozen grapes as ice cubes in your favorite fruit beverage to give it an interesting look and flavor.
Add a few grapes and walnuts to Spring Mix greens with your favorite vinaigrette or Asian salad dressing.
Celery, apples, cheese, and walnuts or pecans go very well with grapes.
Make an appetizer tray to snack on with crackers or specialty breads.
Add grapes to your chicken salad recipe.
Add grapes to your summertime fruit salad.

Let me know how you and your family like the frozen grapes.

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Blueberry Lemon Frozen Yogurt
2. Chicken Dump Freezer Meals
3. Easy Homemade Chili

In the summertime, we drink gallons of iced tea, juice, and water. Making iced tea is a daily occurrence during the summer and we found an easy way to make it by accident.  One morning, my son was going to help with breakfast. He made the coffee while I was busy finishing up breakfast. When I went to pour the coffee, it was rather strange looking for coffee. I tasted it and by accident he had made tea instead of coffee. We had our first iced tea maker! We have used our electric coffeepot for tea ever since.

Iced Tea

Ingredients

3 tea bags (paper tag removed) for medium strength
10 cups of water
1/3 cup of sugar or other sweetener for slightly sweetened tea, if desired
Lemon slice if desired

Preparation

Pull off the paper tags and put the teabags in the coffeepot where you normally put the coffee. You do not need to use a filter.

Add the water to the water reservoir in the coffeepot

Note: If you are using a glass pitcher, let the tea cool before adding it to your pitcher so it will not break your pitcher.

When the tea is finished brewing add the tea to your pitcher and finish filling the pitcher with water.

Add sugar or other sweetener if desired.

Serve over ice with a slice of lemon, add sugar or honey if desired.

Sun Tea

We have also made sun tea. It is a great way to make iced tea without turning on the stove or coffeepot. You will need a glass jar with a lid that will hold eight glasses of water. Add 6-8 tea bags and loosely put the lid on the jar.  Set the jar in the sun for 3-6 hours. Kids love to watch it change colors as it makes tea.  Serve over ice with a slice of lemon, add sugar or honey if desired.

Ice Cubes

When it is hot in the summer, it is so easy to be dehydrated. Drinking plain water can become boring. Instead of drinking plain water, kick it up a bit with some lemon ice cubes.

Ingredients

8-9 lemons juiced
ice cube trays

Add lemon juice to an ice tray and freeze. Add an ice cube to your water for a refreshing drink.

Try adding other fruit ice cubes to your beverages like lime, oranges, or pineapple.

No Tangled Necklace Chains

If you have old ice trays lying around that are cracked, do not throw them away. Put a necklace in each ice cube hole and your necklace chains will never tangle again. The ice cube trays stack well and it is easy to find the necklace you want. It is so nice not to have to untangle a necklace when you need one.

Enjoy!

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2. Blueberry Lemon Frozen Yogurt
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Dry rubs are a combination of herbs and spices that you probably already have in your cupboard. You may be using dry rubs like garlic salt, onion salt, and lemon pepper salt in your everyday cooking.

Dry rubs sit on the surface of the meat. If you put the rub on the meat, let it sit for an hour or more in the refrigerator, the meat will have a delectable flavorful crust on the meat when you barbecue it.

I have made my own barbecue sauce and marinades for a long time after I finally gave up on finding a store bought barbecue sauce that was not real sweet. After discovering dry rubs, I have found different ways to use it for other recipes that are cooked in the slow cooker and oven. The dry rubs give you a great flavor and nice texture that you can adjust to the tastes you and your family enjoy–from mild to spicy.

Freezing

When I start putting away the meat from the grocery store, I decide what I want to do with it.  I take some of the chicken, pork, and beef and rub in the dry rub, seal the package with my Food Saver, write on the package what dry rub I used, date the package, and freeze it.

If you do not have a vacuum sealer, you can double wrap the meat in freezer paper and tape it closed with freezer tape or masking tape.  Wrap the package tightly removing as much air as possible before you seal it. Write on the package what is in it, the dry rub you used, and the date.

Storing

I have narrowed my list down to a few dry rubs that I use the most often. I make them up ahead of time and store the mixtures in airtight containers. The herb and spice dry rubs that will last for a very long time in the pantry. This makes it easy to grab the container and rub it into the meat when I need it.

Do not put leftover rub that has been in contact with the meat back into the storage container.  It will contaminate the rest of the rub and spoil.

Basic Dry Rub

3 tablespoons paprika

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

3 teaspoons chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon celery seed (bruise the seeds with a rolling pin for more flavor)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Mix all ingredients and store in an airtight container.

This is very versatile. If you want to add more of one ingredient or reduce the amount of one of them feel free to do so.  If you want to include an ingredient add it in small amounts, try it, and then add more if you think it needs more.  I usually start with 1/4 teaspoon when I add a new ingredient, then I adjust it the next time I make it up or the next time I use it.

Have fun trying your basic dry rub recipe.

Enjoy!

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2. Crockpot Meatloaf
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I first tried cantaloupe (actually called a muskmelon) wrapped with Proscuitto ham in an up-scale Italian restaurant that served it as an appetizer. I really enjoyed the combination of flavors. Since then I have served it at home as an appetizer, instead of a dinner salad, and as a party food.

Make sure the cantaloupe is ripe. One way to tell if the cantaloupe is ripe is to smell the stem.  If it does not smell slightly sweet like a cantaloupe then it is not ripe. Let it sit on the counter for a couple of days to ripen before serving it.

If you have cut open the cantaloupe and want to refrigerate it, be sure and cover it really well with plastic wrap, or put it in an air tight container, or everything in your refrigerator will smell and taste like cantaloupe.

Ingredients

1 Cantaloupe

8 slices Proscuitto Ham, thinly cut (this will vary on how thick the cantaloupe is sliced)

Toothpicks

Preparation

Cut cantaloupe in half and cut away the rind.  Remove the seeds.  Cut the cantaloupe into slices. Wrap each slice of cantaloupe with ham and secure with a toothpick.

Servings Suggestions

For finger foods, cut the cantaloupe in half and remove the seeds. Take a melon baller and scoop out melon balls from each half of the melon. Take small pieces of the Proscuitto ham and wrap it around the melon ball, or stack a small amount of ham on top of the ball, and secure with a toothpick.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you are ready to serve. Put the melon balls back in the refrigerated empty rind if you are having a barbecue, or place in a party dish, and serve.

For a quick snack just cut the peeled cantaloupe into bite-size pieces, wrap them with ham, and spear them on skewers for a colorful easy snack!

I love this time of year when the grocery stores and produce stands start getting in all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables. Nothing tastes better than ice-cold melons served as an appetizer, salad, or snack when it is so hot outside.

Enjoy!

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Canned tuna is very versatile and we tend to use it in more recipes in the summer.  Tuna is a refreshing alternative to other meats for a meal and it is rich in protein. Some of our class tuna favorites are: tuna salad for sandwiches, stuffed avocados, stuffed tomatoes, and tuna casseroles.  Canned tuna is not only healthy, but it is also a good dollar stretcher.

Tuna Salad

Ingredients

4 cans tuna packed in water, drained
1/4 diced onion
3-4 hard boiled eggs, minced
2-3 small sweet pickles finely diced or pickle relish (optional)
1 teaspoon sweet pickle juice
1/4 cup diced celery or 2 teaspoons celery seed, bruised slightly for more flavor
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/4-1 1/2 cup of mayonnaise

Preparation

Mix all ingredients together.  Add the mayonnaise so that the tuna salad is the consistency you like. Chill.

Serving Suggestions

Sandwiches

Try using different breads, bagels, and muffins instead of plain white or wheat bread.

Stuffed Avocado

Instead of making sandwiches, take an avocado and cut it in half, remove the seed.  Remove a small amount of avocado for a garnish.  Pack the avocado halves with the tuna mixture. Add a dash of pepper. Set the avocado on a lettuce leaf or salad greens. Serve with your favorite dressing.

Stuffed Tomato

Cut the top off the tomato and scoop out the tomato pulp leaving a small amount of pulp in the bottom.  Fill the tomato with the tuna salad.   Garnish with green onions and a dash of pepper. Set the tomato on a lettuce leaf or salad greens. Serve with your favorite dressing.

Tuna Casserole

Ingredients

1 can cream of celery soup
1/2 cup milk
2 cups cooked egg noodles
1 can tuna, drained and flaked
2 tablespoons chopped parsley (optional)
1/4-1/2 cup Grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Blend soup and milk.  Add noodles, tuna, and parsley.  Pour into 1 1/2 quart casserole.  Top with grated Parmesan cheese.

Bake in 350º oven for 20-30 minutes or until hot and bubbling.  4 servings.

Serving Suggestions
Serve with salad and crunchy French bread

Variations

Use crushed potato chips instead of Parmesan cheese for topping.

Use 2-4 tablespoons buttered breadcrumbs for topping instead of Parmesan cheese.
Add a can of drained corn or peas to the mixture.  Either vegetable is very good and extends the number of people the dish will serve.

In the tuna recipes you can substitute canned boned chicken for the tuna.  Tuna should be firm, flaky and moist, but not soggy.  I use the chunky tuna packed in water.

Tuna is very versatile and can be combined with most flavors from asparagus to melons.  This is a good product to have on hand in the pantry for quick meals.  The tuna will last about a year or so in the cupboard. Tuna is inexpensive, has high protein, and best of all most kids like it.

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Very Veggie Tuna Sandwich
2. Canned Salmon
3. Tuna Pot Roast with Tomato, Basil & Capers

I love to cook – most of the time – but my kids seem to want to eat every day so I’m constantly trying to put together new kid-friendly meals. I grew up eating beans on toast so I thought it was standard lunch fare. I was shocked when none of my friends had ever heard of it, but my mom is British and it took me a while to figure out that beans on toast is standard lunch fare – in England. My kids love it though and it’s simple to make, see you take beans and you put them . . . on toast. Not overly complicated but pretty tasty. We usually have it for lunch but it will do for a quick dinner (or a snack if one of the kids is going through a particularly strenuous growth spurt). The traditional British version uses Heinz baked beans, which are usually hard to find, but like so many things from my childhood, I got used to the adulterated American version and I prefer pork and beans for this.

Ingredients

Wheat Bread

Can of Pork and Beans

Preparation

Toast the bread slightly more than you would for regular toast. Because you are putting beans on top, it can get soggy if it isn’t toasted enough.

Heat the pork and beans over the stove until they bubble. I usually pull out some beans for my kids and then let mine cook a few minutes longer.

Spoon the pork and beans over toast and serve.

Variations

You could serve this with cheese on top or with a fried egg.

Related posts:

1. Delicious Dry Beans – How to Cook Pinto Beans
2. Pinto Beans
3. Simple Lunches – Black Bean Quesadillas

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