Thursdays Tips

I have run out of a few things this week and I am trying my best to avoid the grocery stores and walmart and all those other places that you almost can't escape with any pennies left in your bank account. I have posted before about my love of DIY recipes for convenience items and seeing as payday is a couple of weeks away,

and school is starting in less than 10 days, and though I am not really agoraphobic, lately I just don't want to leave home. All the more reason to avoid the stores right? This week, I have made home made "hot pockets", Ketchup, and I am just before making my own hershey's style chocolate syrup because I used the last two teaspoons I could squeeze out of the bottle to make a mocha frappuccino for my son. I thought I would share my recipes for my cheaper versions of some of our favorite convenience things.
The hot pockets were really a good surprise. I had some leftover chicken and filling mix from a pot pie I had made so I simply added some broccoli and cheddar cheese to the mixture and wrapped it in an empa~nada dough recipe that I got from my sister so many years ago I'll bet she doesn't even remember. LOL They were easy to make and even though the crust was a little more bread like than hot pockets, they passed the ultimate test, the snack-hungry teenager.
Here is my recipe, feel free to tweek it anyway you like to suit your own tastes and if you make it, let me know how you like it.
Crust:
2 Cups Self Rising Flour
1Tbsp Sugar
1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp shortening
2 Tbsp butter/ margarine
1/2 cup water ( I actually used a little more).
Bread dough:
Mix flour, sugar, shortening and butter until the mixture is dry and crumbly, then add the egg yolk and last add the water a Tbsp full at a time until the mixture forms a ball. Knead for 2-3 minutes. Roll out circles 1/8-1/4 inch thick. ( thinner is probably better)

Filling: Stir together
1-2 cups cooked chicken. ( I used leftovers)
1 can cream of chicken soup,
1 cup broccoli ( frozen is good, but I am sure some fresh steamed broccoli would be fine)
1 Soup can milk ( not quite full)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese ( more to taste, I also added some mozzarella and parmesan)

Assembly:
Fill each dough circle with about a 1/4 cup of filling mixture and seal the edges with a fork.
I used the leftover egg white and some water and brushed the egg wash on before I baked them.
Bake at 400F 25-28 minutes or until golden brown.
I let them cool, wrapped them individually and put them in the freezer in a zipper storage bag. We re-heat them in the microwave, just like the regular hot pockets.

This made about 12 hot pockets for just about the same price as 1 box from the store. I suppose if you had to buy all the ingredients, it would work out to about 6 bucks, depending on the price of chicken. The way I figure it, I made them for about $.50 each and they run about 1.25 each on sale. That saved me about $9.00 not bad for about 45 minutes work.


I'm thinking I'll stash all the savings I can and use it to buy some supplies for my jewelry.

I found this recipe for the "Hershey's" style syrup online and I think I will try it tomorrow.
Hershey's Chocolate Syrup

l cup Hershey's cocoa
l l/2 cups sugar
l cup hot water
dash of salt
boil for three minutes and add 2 teaspoons of vanilla

Store in refrigerator

For the frappuccino, I mixed some cold coffee, ice, about 2 tsp sugar and 2 Tbsp of chocolate syrup with some half and half in my magic bullet and blended it until it was smooth and fluffy.
I do not enjoy cold coffee, but the other caffeine lovers here both appreciated it.

I am looking for a better ketchup recipe. The ones I have used seem to be a little flat. Of course they are missing the high fructose corn syrup and all those multi-syllable chemical ingredients that I can't identify so maybe that is the problem. I will keep searching for a good one. I wonder how many times I can refill the bottles before they realize that things just don't ever run out anymore.

Thursday's tightwad tip

I love tightwad tips! Do you like them too? Today's tip is not only money saving, but it works better than any of the more expensive things I have tried. It is Vinegar.

No, don't worry, I am not about to tell you there are a gazillion uses for it around the house, ( even though there are), but this tip saves me so much time in the kitchen it is unbelievable.
Do you ever have pots that need extra help getting the stuck on residues clean? What about that casserole dish that has all the yummy leftover crusties stuck to the sides?
Here's the tip!...
Pour vinegar into the dish and let it sit usually just until you have finished cleaning all of the other dishes. Normally this is plenty of time and you will be amazed how easy it is clean up the really tough ones. I shared it with my Mom and I think she called everyone she knew to share the tip.

Another of my all time favorites is this: I love to eat out, but I am a CHEAPSKATE! so I hate to pay a lot for a meal that I know I can prepare at home for a tiny fraction of the price. Yes, I know there are times that you just want to go out, but for those times when you just want the "goodies" make them at home. I have tons of recipes for the things that we like to eat at our favorite places. There are many sites on the internet that have restaurant recipes or clones. It is really easy to find. A few of my favorites are recipe goldmine
recipezaar and copykat.
Today, I made a combination of "Ruby Tuesday's" "Cheddar Fries" and KFC's honey bbq Boneless wings.

I left the BBQ sauce off of some of the pieces and we had some extra crispy boneless wings /chicken nuggets like those we sometimes get at Zaxby's. It was so good and much less expensive than the $40-50 bucks we would have spent for the 3 of us to eat out.
The boneless wings today were really good. I was out of eggs so rather than using eggs and milk to help make the crust, I substituted mayonnaise. You would be amazed how tender the inside was and how crispy the outside was too. The whole meal cost less than $15.00 and fed 3 of us all we cared to eat. Did I mention I love to be a tightwad? If you want the recipes I used today, just leave me a comment or email me and I will gladly share.

Tuesday's Tightwad Tip

I can't believe it is already Tuesday again. It seems as though the world keeps spinning faster and faster and the older I get, the faster it spins.

Want new plants... Cheap or better yet Free plants?
There are so many websites and garden clubs now available, that you could literally fill your yard with free/ traded plants.
The easiest way is to start plants from cuttings. My Grandma taught me to root roses by putting a piece in the ground and putting a "mason" jar over it. When I bought my property she started many plants for me from her yard. Her Sister was also really good with plants and she would root gardenia's year round in a bucket behind her kitchen door and start seeds in dixie cups for the church bazzar.
When you start cuttings, they most important thing is to keep them from drying out. Take a 5-6" clipping and put it in moist sandy soil and keep it shaded and it is amazing what you will be able to grow.
If propagating your own plants seems too much, check into some of the gardening sites on the web.
Blossom Swap, Plant Traders, Daves Garden and Garden web all have very active communities of people who love to trade plants, seeds and cuttings. There are always those willing to share what they have or know with someone who is really interested.

Another really good way to be cheap is to grow your own herbs. The basics that you really use the most often are your best bets. Most of them are also easy to grow annuals and don't take a tremendous amount of care. Try Basil, oregano, Thyme, cilantro and dill. They are very easy to grow and taste great when added to your dinner. I don't know what they cost in other places, but here a tiny package of basil or mint is well over $3.00 and if you don't use it all relatively soon, it goes to waste. If you have it growing, you can simply harvest what you need and leave the rest to be ready in time for your next menu.

If you have any good tightwad tips, leave me a comment and I will share them when I do my next frugal posts.

Happy Penny Pinching.