French Bread and some yummy soups!

Since we have been working on our storage room, my wheat grinder has gotten moved to a corner and I haven't had access to it to grind up some wheat
and so I have been making French Bread,
OR, Multi Grain Bread (click here)
every week instead.

Even though it's not as healthy as whole wheat bread,
it is still homemade from ingredients I control
and it is quick and easy to throw together in the afternoons after work.
It tastes delicious and makes yummy sandwiches as well.
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It sure makes eating soup more fun
if you have a slice of homemade bread to go with it!

French Bread

Mix and set aside.
½ cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp yeast

In a Kitchen Aid Mixer:
2 Tbsp Olive oil
3 Tbsp. Sugar
2 tsp salt
2 cups HOT water

Add yeast mixture to above ingredients, mix well.
Add 1-1/2 cups wheat flour and ½ cups unbleached white flour. (this will be lumpy). Add 3-4 more cups unbleached white flour until you have soft dough...it should be soft, not overly sticky, and not stiff (I add in 3 cups of flour and then add in more flour in 1/4 cup intervals until you have a nice soft dough)
Knead and put in a greased bowl and let rise for one hour. Punch down every 20 minutes.
Punch down and then divide dough in half, roll into 2 large rectangles, roll into French loaves.

Put loaves on greased cookie sheet and let raise for 20 more minutes.
(I cook my French Bread on a baking stone)

Slash top of the loaf 3 or 4 times and brush with beaten egg white.
Bake at 350* until golden brown (about 20-25 minutes). This bread is a treat!

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Here are some yummy soups
we cooked up this last week.
The Cabbage Soup can be made with cabbage, broccoli or cauliflower
and is very economical to make as well.
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Broccoli, Cauliflower or Cabbage Soup

In a large pot in a little bit of olive oil cook:
1 large chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped ham
Cook until onion/celery are soft.

Then add:
2 cups chicken broth (or 2 tsp boullion in 2 cups water)
1 cup chopped carrots
1 large bunch of broccoli chopped (or you can use 1 head cauliflower or 1 head cabbage)
1 to 2 tsp Lemon Pepper

Add just enough water to barely cover vegetables.
Cook until veggies are tender.
Add (1) 8 ounce package of ‘LIGHT” (Neufchatel) Cream cheese.

Cook until cheese is melted. Enjoy!

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How Frugal is this soup?

Well, I got cabbage for .33 for a HEAD of cabbage (not per pound)
The ham was about .30
The onion was .19
the celery and carrots were about .75
the bouillon and seasonings were about .15
and the Cream Cheese was .99
.....SO our soup cost us $2.71

(even if the cabbage would have cost more, it still makes this meal under $5.00
and we got 3 different meals from it)

This fed 4 people 2 dinners and 2 people 1 lunch!

Very economical and nutritious way
to feed our little family of 4!

Beef Stew (over mashed potatoes)

1-2 pounds of stew meat (or cut up roast)

Dip stew meat in flour and coat well.
Cook in olive oil in a skillet until well browned.
Put cooked meat in a large pot.

Deglaze the skillet with 1 cup of red wine, OR 1 cup apple juice/cider, OR 1 cup chicken broth (any of these 3 will work)
Get all meat scrapings into liquid of your choice and cook for 1 minute. Pour this mixture over meat. The skillet is now clean.

Add more olive oil to skillet and cook
1 large onion until browned and soft. Pour this over meat mixture. (you are now done with the skillet)

To the meat mixture—add:
2-1/2 cups chicken broth (or 2 bouillon cubes in 2-1/2 cups water)
1 can Italian stewed tomatoes
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery

Simmer 45 minutes.

Serve over hot mashed potatoes.

This is the most filling, yummy dinner! It’s one of our favorite!

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HELPFUL TIP!!

If you have a more “tough” cut of stew meat, I made up this stew for the whole cook time and then threw it in my crock pot for 2 hours on high and it made the meat VERY tender, but yet the veggies were still tender-crisp.

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How Frugal is this soup?

Well the meat was FREE as my parents are very generous and give us quite a bit of meat during the year from their cows,

HOWEVER, if I would have bought meat
it would have been about $1.99 per pound.

The apple juice was about .25
The onion was .19
the celery and carrots were about .75
the stewed tomatoes were .79
the bouillon and seasonings was about .15
The potatoes were FREE
but if we would have made paid for them it would have been about .50 for potatoes.
.....SO, our stew cost us $2.13

(if I would have paid for the meat and potatoes
the soup would have cost $4.63)

This fed 4 people 2 dinners and 2 people 1 lunch!

I love thrift!!!
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And don't forget dessert! This is my basic cookie recipe and I have been making up alot of PLAIN oatmeal cookies to save on chocolate chips. The kids don't seem to mind them and these give you GREAT energy!

Kimberly’s Cookies
(very versatile recipe)

1 cube REAL butter
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups unbleached flour
1 cup oatmeal (enough to make a nice dough)
½ teaspoon soda
¼ teaspoon salt

(add in your choice of chocolate chips, chocolate/butterscotch chips mixed, M&M’s or GUMDROPS cut into little pieces)

Cream together sugar and butter.
Add egg, vanilla, salt and soda.
Then add flour and oatmeal.
Then add in chocolate chips, M&M’s or gumdrops.
Bake in 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. ENJOY!

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This is a basic recipe that I use for all my cookies. At Christmastime I add in cut up gum drops…during holidays I get holiday M&M’s and add in….
also a combination of chocolate chips/butterscotch chips is good,
OR, my favorite RAISINS,
but the thing that I put in the most is
just plain ole semi-sweet chocolate chips).
These are always a hit anytime they are made!