Crockpot Refried Beans

 Last night was Child #4's Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. This year's theme was "Fiesta". I was assigned to bring taco meat, but I live with a household of Refried Bean lovers (they are a strange lot!), who were devastated that there would not be any Refried Beans at the party ( I know, I know, they are very QUIRKY). I  was just going to open a few cans of  Refried beans, until I did the math, and realized Refried Beans for forty hungry people is a lot of cans of beans. I needed a Plan B! After perusing the Internet, I found a recipe on AllRecipes.com  that had a four and a half star review. Good enough for me, plus, they are cooked in the Crock Pot so they do most of the work by themselves. All members of the household gave them a two thumbs up, HURRAY! I will be making them again.  I did tweak the recipe a little bit ( I seem to do this a lot. I must have a wild streak in me, I didn't know about!). Here is the final product.

Crock Pot Refried Beans

(makes fifteen 1/2 cup servings)

3 cups dried pinto beans

1 cup of finely minced onion ( I chopped mine up in the food processor)

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 (4 oz.) can of chopped green chili peppers ( I tossed mine in with the onion and chopped them up more)

1 tablespoon chicken bullion

1/8 teaspoon ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper

2 teaspoons salt

9 cups water

1. Place dried beans in the crock pot . Cover with water and soak overnight.
2. Drain water off of soaked beans and return beans to crock pot.
3. Add onion, garlic, chili peppers, bullion, and spices to beans. Stir together.
4. Cover with water. 
5. Turn the crock pot onto high and cook for 8 hours. Check beans periodically. If the water seems to be evaporating (the water is below bean level) add  more hot water.
6. When beans are soft and mash easily, drain beans. Reserve the liquid!
7. Mash beans with a potato masher or mixer adding in enough bean broth to get a soft (not runny) consistency. You will not use all the broth. ( I cheated and ran my beans through the food processor in small batches. I just start the processor and slowly poured the broth in the neck of the lid until the beans reached the desired consistency.)

I did some math, and one pot full of refried beans cost me $1.38 to make or $.09 a serving. A can of  Refried Beans on sale is $.58 for four 1/2 servings or $.15 a serving. I did double the recipe for the banquet. This required me cooking the beans in two crock pots (beans swell after you soak them!!!). The regular recipe makes enough for dinner, with plenty of extra.   I scooped my extra beans into quart Ziploc  freezer bags and froze them for later. There was quite a bit of bean broth left.

I poured that into plastic freezer containers (in two cup portions) to use as a base in soup, stew, and chili.

Cream Of Garbage Soup And This Week's Ridley's (Associated Food) Sales 2/8

 A dear reader, Amy, posted a comment and asked for more information about Cream of Garbage Soup. If you are a long time reader you may remember it. Cream of Garbage Soup is my children's name for the pot of soup I concoct periodically to use up leftover veggies, starchy foods, and meat. Since I live in Idaho, and I am usually the recipient of several 50 pounds bags of potatoes every fall, our pot of soup usually always includes potatoes. Cream of Garbage soup evolved from my mother in law's potato soup recipe. I have tweaked it over the years to suit what I have on hand, and my family's tasted. Soup is a great way to use up leftover odds and ends. If you are interested in reading all about Cream of Garbage soup you can check it out HERE.

I'm a little disappointed in Ridley's sale ad this week. There were not a lot of super fabulous deals. I am noticing that more and more with most of  my local grocery stores weekly grocery sales ads. I have started    buying more basic staples when I go shopping and making more things from scratch. Well, enough of the whining, these items did seem to be a fairly good price:

• W.F. (56 oz) carton of Ice Cream (assorted varieties) $2.15
• Nestle  Cocoa Mix (10 count) box $.85 each
• Fresh Pork Picnic Roast $.89 pound
• Honeysuckle White Ground Turkey (4 pound bag) $5.99 each
• Fresh Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts $1.99 pound
• Boneless Pork Sirloin Chops $1.59 pound
• Small Pink Lady Apples $.99 pound
• Tomatoes $.99 pound
• Three pound bag of Clementines $3.99 each

I noticed last week the Ridley's has raised the price of Harper's Homemade Bread back up to $1.69 a loaf. I have noticed the price has increased on Harper's bread at the other grocery stores, as well. Costco still sells it in a twin pack for $3.25.

Don't forget to check out Nel's Bi Lo Market for in store specials this week.

Grocery Spending And This Week's Menu 2/6

This month I thought I would post pictures from my weekly grocery shopping trips, as well as, my weekly menu. Unfortunately, I have been scrimping along  for several months now, so it was time to stock up on some essential items. Yesterday's shopping trip also included extra food I don't normally buy, because Dear Hubby's brother's family has invited us to his house for a Super Bowl Party.

This is what I bought at Ridley's and Smith's on their sales. I combined coupons this sales for the crackers, canned tomatoes, cheese, toothpaste, and cream cheese (the cream cheese was $.50 each after coupons). The potato chips, some of the crackers, and two of the sour creams will be taken to the Super Bowl Party. I also bought the 5 twelve packs of Diet Coke from the previous post and  2 twenty packs of Diet Pepsi and a Shrimp Ring (all of which aren't pictured). I spent $32.41 at Smith's and $69.54 at Ridley's:

Of course, I picked up our weekly basket from Bountiful Basket (my half of the weekly contribution is $8.25):

At Winco (the cheapest grocery store in my area) I spent $109.07. I love that Winco has a fabulous bulk foods section. It makes it nice when I have to restock pantry staples.

The budget breaker this week was my trip to Costco to stock up on staples. We ran out of toilet paper, fabric softener, and garbage bags at the same time. I usually try to keep a back stock of these items and stagger what I buy each month so I don't have this problem. Oops!! I spent $105.36 at Costco.

  

I spent a Grand Total of $324.63 this week. That is also the lion's share of my grocery budget for this month. Luckily I have  restocked the larder, and other than milk and my weekly Bountiful Basket contribution I shouldn't have to buy many more groceries.

This week's menu includes a lot of family favorites, again. That's okay, at least I know everyone will eat dinner!

Sunday

Super Bowl Party (I am bringing a shrimp ring, veggie tray, and chips, crackers and dip)

Monday

Shrimp Lo Mein

Green Salad

Leftover Rolls

Tuesday 

Eating at Child #4's Cub Scout Banquet

Wednesday

Beans, Bacon, and Red Potatoes

Banana Muffins (I should have some black bananas that need used up)

Jello Salad with Fruit

Thursday

Turkey Fricasee

Mashed Potatoes

Steamed Carrots

Friday

Cream of Garbage Soup

Cornbread

Spinach Salad

Saturday

Leftovers

I hope everybody enjoys their Super Bowl Sunday. I personally am not a football fan,but I sure do enjoy the commercials.........and the yummy party food!

The Children Are Saved!

Ridley's ended up having 12 packs of Coke products on sale for 5 for $14.00 (or $2.80 each). That is not a fabulous deal I have gotten them for $2.00 a 12 pack before, but prices have gone up and I did not have coupons this time. $2.80 each is much better than $3.98 each (which was plan B). Now I can feed my addiction and the children are safe from the bodily harm that may have befallen them if I ended up having to go cold turkey!!

Meal Planning

I was e mailed a great article a few days ago, and I thought I'd share it with all my bloggy friends! This article includes simple no nonsense ways to plan a menu. Since, I must confess, that it is only recently that I have jumped on the plan a menu bandwagon, I found the ideas in this article helpful. Planning a menu around weekly sales, pantry staples, and freezer inventory is one of the best ways to keep your budget in check. Serving home cooked meals is also far healthier and cheaper that eating take out or fast food! Anyhow, go check this article:

Ten Secret For Planning Meals For Your Family

I'd love to hear from all of you!!!!!! What tactics do you use to plan your menus and save money on groceries?

Apple Cake

I know that the picture of the Apple Cake isn't very appetizing, and it's probably not really selling itself, right now!  If you could only smell the delightful cinnamon, apple aroma as it's baking, and taste the gooey, warm yumminess.........you'd be HOOKED! I had a bowl of soft semi wrinkly apples that I didn't want to toss in the garbage. What better way to get your family to eat potential trash than turn it into, DESSERT! Of course, I found the recipe in my new favorite cookbook, "The Taste Of Home Baking Book". I did tweak it a little, I added brown sugar in place of white sugar in the recipe,which is why the top of the cake looks like it is burned. It's totally worth it, the cake is very moist, and dense. I served it warm with vanilla ice cream for dessert, but I have to confess I ate some warmed up the next morning with half and half poured over it,and it was HEAVENLY! You could also add raisin or dried cranberries into the batter, but my family considers that highly offensive (the big Babies).

Apple Cake

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup sugar (I used brown sugar)

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all purpose flour (this would be a good recipe to use half whole wheat half white flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 cups diced apples (chopped mine up in the food processor)

1/4 cup nuts ( I used sliced almonds leftover from Christmas); optional

1. In a large bowl cream together butter, sugar, until light and fluffy. 
2. Beat in egg and vanilla. 
3. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
4. Add to creamed mixture. The batter will be thick.
5. Stir in apples and nuts.
6. Spread into a greased 8 in  square baking dish
7. Bake at 350 for 35 - 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

I 1 and a 1/2 timed the recipe and that filled a 13x9 inch cake pan.

Ridley's and BiLo's (Associated Food) Deals 2/1 - 2/7

 There are some really fabulous deals this week at Ridley's. In fact, I am assuming most grocery stores will be posting Super Bowl Deals this week. I am certainly hoping that one of our local grocery stores has a sale on Diet Coke this week. I am down to my last 12 pack, and I am starting to worry. I can't justify paying $4.78 a twelve pack (the current price in our area) to support my bad habit. So, everybody pray with me that there is a great sale on my favorite vice this week. Better yet, pray for my children's health and safety, if it doesn't go on sale, and I have to quit COLD TURKEY! Some of the troops haven't learned that it is not wise to "poke a stick in the Badger hole when the Mama Badger is cranky"!

Anyway, on to the great deals. Check out your local Associated Food store for similar sale prices.

• Medium Hass Avocados 2 for $.88
• Navel Oranges $.49 pound
• Green Onions 2 for $1.00
• Roma Tomatoes $.68 pound
• Petite Sirlion Steak $2.67 pound
• Johnsonville Brats 3 for $10.00
• Nautilus (16 oz.) Large Tail On Shrimp $3.87 each
• W.F. (16 oz.) Sour Cream $.77 each
• W.F. (6 oz.) yogurt (assorted varieties) $.37 each
• W.F. (24 oz.) Tomato Ketchup $.87 each
• 24 packs of Pepsi Products 2 for $4.88 (for your 1st two)
• Red Baron Pizza 2 for $5.00
• Lay's Potato Chips (assorted varieties) $1.85 each
• Clover Club Potato Chips (assorted varieties) $1.58 each
• Don Julio Tortilla Chips $.88 each
• Nabisco Snack Crackers (assorted varieties) $1.88 each
• Colgate Toothpaste (original ) $.97 each
• VO5 (15 oz.) Shampoo or Conditioner $.77 each
• Foamy (11 oz.) Shaving Cream 3 for $5.00

Don't forget to check out the great deals at Nel's Bi Lo Market. They offer weekly in house and local specials, in addition to the Associated Food's specials!