Stretching grocery dollars is important to us all, and we still want delicious meals. Doing both on a budget seems like “Mission Impossible”. They also can’t be simple to prepare, right? Oh… are YOU in for a surprise!   The past few months have been—in my life—a challenging opportunity for growth. Which means I’m hanging onto my sanity by my fingernails. Curve balls are great in the World Series baseball games. Not so in real life experiences. We’ve had a few serious curve balls recently, and I find, unfortunately…  I still need to feed my family. Go figure!  The following “basic” recipe lends itself well to three full meals for 4. Any leftovers from any of the meals can also be used for quick, cheap, heat-in-the-microwave lunches at work. To begin with, you’ll need a basic, NO COOK, sun dried tomato and onion sauce: 

NO COOK Sun Dried Tomato & Onion Sauce

• 1 pkg. Sun dried tomatoes (3 oz.)
• 2 heaping tablespoons dried, minced onion
• 1 rounded teaspoon garlic salt
• ½ cup Falcon Nest Cabernet Sauvignon
• ½ cup Falcon Nest Merlot
• ½ - 1 cup water

 Place tomatoes, minced onion and garlic salt in a clean, sterile, glass or plastic jar; add wine and enough water to just cover dried contents. Seal tightly with lid and place in your refrigerator for at least 24 hours (and up to one week).  

Transfer soaked tomatoes and diced onions—along with any remaining liquid—into an electric blender. Puree until smooth. Return to original jar and refrigerate until ready to use. Due to the alcohol in the wine (which acts as a preservative), the resulting sauce will keep refrigerated for up to one month.

Classic Spaghetti Dinner

• 2 ½ pounds ground beef, lamb or turkey
• No Cook Sun Dried Tomato & Onion Sauce
• 4 cups diced, fresh tomatoes OR 2 (two) 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes
• 1 cup canned tomato sauce
• 1 heaping teaspoon dried, red pepper flakes
• 1 heaping tablespoon freshly chopped basil OR 1 t. dried basil
• 1 heaping teaspoon freshly chopped oregano OR ¼ t. dried oregano

 Brown the ground meat in a skillet over low heat until evenly cooked. Drain and transfer to a stockpot. Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a low boil over medium heat, stir and reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer (stirring occasionally) at low heat for approximately 10 minutes. Turn off heat and set-aside until serving. 

Cook and drain 2 pounds of spaghetti. Serve with above sauce, tossed, green salad and garlic bread.

Week Night “Lasagna” From Leftovers

• Left over, cooked spaghetti
• 2-3 cups low fat, cottage cheese
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ cup bottled Italian Dressing (any brand)
• Left over sauce from your spaghetti dinner
• Left over garlic bread from your spaghetti dinner

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9 X 11 baking dish with cooking oil spray. Arrange cooked spaghetti in bottom of prepared pan, evenly. Puree cottage cheese, eggs, and Italian dressing in an electric blender until smooth and creamy. Pour over pasta in the baking dish. Top with an even layer of left over sauce (approximately 3 cups). Break up left over garlic bread into a food processor and pulse until crumbed. Sprinkle over the above “lasagna”. Place in preheated oven and bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes, or until bread crumbs have browned. Remove from oven and allow cooling for 10-15 minutes before serving.  

Note: I serve this with cooked green beans and a tossed, baby green salad. Also, this can be frozen for a few days prior to baking.

Quick & Easy Tortellini Dinner

• 24 oz. fresh or frozen, three cheese tortellini
• 3-4 cups left over sauce from your original spaghetti dinner
• 2 cups chopped, fresh spinach or arugala greens
• ½ cup sliced, pitted black olives (canned, drained)

 Cook the tortellini as per package instructions. Drain, and add remaining ingredients. Return to stove top burner at low heat and cook for two to three minutes, stirring or tossing to incorporate and evenly heat the sauce with the pasta. 

Serve with freshly steamed vegetables of your choice and a spinach or arugla salad. Gelato is a fine dessert with this meal, and rounds out the overall nutrition provided for less calories than ice cream or other desserts.

 There you go… three easy, delicious meals compliments of Falcon Nest wines and my kitchen experiments!  

The past few weeks have been spent planting a kitchen and herb bed in our front yard–with rising costs of fresh produce, our modest garden should pay for itself this year. I’ve discovered a few money saving ideas as well. For example, our local market sells cellophane packages of dried chili peppers (many different varieties), in the specialty foods aisle for as little as sixty nine cents per package. Snap open the dried pods, and you’ll have enough seeds to plant several bumper crops. Most sun dried tomatoes also have seeds, and tomato plants themselves can be bought inexpensively this time of year. I go through a lot of tomatoes, lettuce and herbs, so I look for single gallon pots with enough individual plants per pot to be divided into thirds before planting the young tomatoes or herbs into the soil. Many herbs such as basil and cilantro sprout easily from seeds directly sown in the garden.

With that thought in mind, there’s nothing more cost-effective than an active, sourdough bread starter. Lest you feel it’s too time consuming or complicated, the beauty of sourdough is the fact it does take time to rise. Meaning you can prepare your dough and go about other things without being tied to the kitchen as the bread rises. Sourdough starters are very simple to make with a few ingredients and a bit of patience. Below is a favorite in our household:

Cayucos Cellars Sourdough Starter

1 cup very warm (not hot) water

½ cup unbleached bread flour

½ cup stone ground, whole wheat bread flour

2 tablespoons Cayucos Cellars 2003 Cabernet (or other Cayucos Cellars wine)

Note: Cayucos Cellars wine is recommended, because the Selkirk family uses only naturally occurring, local yeast on the grapes to make their wines—no added yeast is used—and the natural, local yeast makes a fantastic sourdough starter.

Wisk all ingredients in a glass measuring cup until smooth. Transfer to a clean, sterile jar, cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, but no longer than 3 days before the first “feeding”. Be sure to “feed” this starter once before using to make a loaf of bread.

To feed starter, combine:

1 cup very warm (not hot) water

¼ cup unbleached bread flour

¼ cup stone ground, whole wheat bread flour

Again, stir your ingredients in a glass measuring cup until smooth; add to the starter. Return the starter to the refrigerator for an additional 24 to 48 hours. Every third feeding, add one tablespoon of wine. Be sure to use or feed your starter (once established) at least twice a week to keep it active and fresh.

Sourdough Bread Recipe

2 cups unbleached bread flour

1-cup stone ground whole wheat bread flour

1-teaspoon sea salt (or table salt)

1-cup sourdough starter

½ cup warm water

1-tablespoon canola or olive oil

Using a bread machine or your own hands, knead together all ingredients until dough is smooth and elastic. The texture should be that of a baby’s bottom, so add flour or warm water as necessary to achieve this consistency. Allow dough to rest for at least 15 minutes and up to one hour. Knead again, working in a small amount of unbleached bread flour to keep the dough from becoming too sticky.  Shape and place in a prepared loaf pan or onto a prepared cookie sheet—simple sprits of cooking oil spray is the only preparation needed. Allow the bread to almost double in size (which takes several hours at room temperature, or all night/day in the refrigerator).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place loaf pan or cookie sheet on center rack in your preheated oven and bake at 375 degrees for approximately 30-35 minutes. Bread will continue to rise during baking, and when done will have a lightly browned surface. Transfer immediately to a cooling rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes before wrapping or serving.

Makes one standard sized loaf of bread or a dozen rolls, which will keep, wrapped, for a few days at room temperature.

Have company? Need something on hand that’s easy, unique, tasty and memorable? Try Cab-Apple Butter with Cab-Apple Light Wheat Bread made from Cayucos Cellars 2003 Cabernet. Before you say only those who are alcoholics or otherwise not-quite-mainstream would serve wine for breakfast, it’s important to note that when cooking with wine, sustained heat over a period of time gets rid of all the alcohol in the food. In other words, no alcohol remains. This leaves behind only natural flavors and anti-oxidants of the fruit. The following recipes might convince you to give wine for breakfast a try:

Cab-Apple Butter

*Note: I buy my half pound packages of natural apple rings from Avila & Sons Farms, but any variety will do.

Soak the above ingredients in a glass bowl covered with plastic wrap for several hours or overnight. The dehydrated apple rings should be plump and rehydrated when ready; some liquid will remain.

In batches, spoon apple rings and remaining liquid into a blender or food processor and blend until very smooth. Transfer to a nonstick pot and bring to a low boil over medium low heat on your stovetop, stirring occasionally. Once the liquid begins to bubble, thoroughly stir in 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon and continue to boil over low heat for at least 10 minutes. Add unsweetened apple juice or water 1/4 cup at a time if the mixture becomes too thick too quickly. Total cooking time should be just over 15 minutes.

Prepare jars as mentioned in earlier blogs. Spoon spiced fruit butter into clean, sterile jars and seal tightly. As mentioned in earlier posts, give your well-sealed jars a bath in boiling water. Allow to reach room temperature before serving or storing. Opened jars should be refrigerated and used as soon as possible. Makes approximately 6 cups of Cab-Apple Butter.

Cab-Apple Light Wheat Bread

In a medium sized bowl, blend together flours and salt. Using a pastry cutter, cut in softened margarine or butter until a slightly crumbly, dry mixture results. Spoon mixture into a bread machine or larger bowl.

Dissolve the package of active, dry yeast in warm water and Cap-Apple Butter, stirring until dissolved. Set aside and allow to activate for 2-3 minutes. Pour over flour mixture. If using a bread machine, program bread machine to wheat bread setting and start.

If making bread the old-fashioned way, knead mixture well until smooth and elastic, cover and set aside for ten minutes. Knead well once more and shape into a loaf. Place shaped dough into a loaf pan lightly coated with cooking oil spray and allow to rise until doubled in size (40-50 minutes, depending on room temperature).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake prepared loaf in 375 degree oven for approximately 30 minutes or until evenly browned. Remove from oven, transfer to cooling rack and cool for at least 10 minutes before serving or wrapping. Makes one average sized loaf of lightly spiced, soft textured wheat bread, which is best enjoyed within a day or two. You may also freeze the bread for future breakfasts.

As an alternative, this recipe makes about one dozen Cab-Apple rolls by dividing the dough into sections and placing into lightly oiled muffin cups before the final rise. Rolls bake at 375 degrees for approximately 20 minutes. Whichever form you decide, a delicious, slightly sweet, aromatic breakfast awaits your guests! Yum!