One of the ways we save money here at The Frugal Farmer is by making most everything from scratch.  The cost savings is unbeatable, and although sometimes it can be intimidating to throw away your prepackaged foods for homemade, once you get the hang of it, it’s often easier and tastes better than the pre-made stuff.

One area in which I was always intimidated by homemade is the area of pie crusts.  A good pie crust is crisp, but not dry, not soggy or undercooked on the bottom, yet not overdone on the edge.  We started making homemade crusts purely out of the need to spend less due to our debt situation.  We’ve got a long way to go to perfection, but things are coming along.  We’ve got the cooking part down well, but we are still working on appearance, so today’s pic is courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens, whose crust recipe we use.  Click on the photo credit link and it will bring you to the recipe page.

The thing I really love about a homemade pie crust is the rich, buttery taste it holds if you use real butter.  It just can’t be beat by any store-bought imitation.  The quiche recipe is one we just kind of made through trial and error.

Single Crust Pie Pastry

1/3 c. real butter, softened  (in order to save money, we use 1/4 c. and add an extra T of water.  Yes, every dime really does add up. :-))  32 cents

3 to 4 T. cold water

1/4 t. salt

1 -1/4 c. flour           15 cents

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In a bowl, mix together flour and salt.  Cut in the butter and mix with a fork or pastry blender until thoroughly blended.  Sprinkle in the water, and blend well until all flour is moistened, and form the dough into a nice round ball with no “cracks” in the dough.  On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to form a circle about 12 inches in diameter.  Wrap the pastry around the rolling pin and set it over your 9-inch pie plate.  Form the dough into the plate, scallop the edges with your forefinger and thumb, and prick the bottom of the crust where it meets the sides, all around the whole crust.  Bake the crust for 10 minutes or until lightly golden, and let it cool while you make the quiche “innards”.

Quiche filling

Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, mix together:

4 beaten eggs     52 cents

1 c. milk                22 cents

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese    $1.68

1/2 t. salt             3 cents 

1/2 t. pepper         5 cents

Total cost:  $2.97 for six servings

Pour filling into pie crust, and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  **If you notice the edges starting to get too dark, remove the quiche, cover the edges with tin foil, and continue baking.   Let stand for 10 minutes, cut into six equal slices and serve.

Want to spice it up?  Add 1/4 c. of: diced onion, green pepper or tomato, or diced ham.  Or, add a handful of fresh baby spinach leaves, and sprinkle the top with grated parmesan before baking.

Photo Credit

Happy Tuesday, friends!  My big plans to feature a weekly recipe with the Before and After series has kind of been on hold, simply because my creativity seems to be AWOL lately.  Honestly, I’m getting a bit tired of living on a tight grocery budget and feeling a bit sorry for myself at times, which is leaving me a bit rebellious about meal planning.

So instead, I’ve decided that I’ll search the Net each week for new and exciting recipes, and share the good ones with ya’ll.  This week, I’ve decided to start with a great recipe for parties, Mr. CBB’s Sloppy Joes.  (Not a meat fan?  Try his meatless sloppy joes) Now, Mr. CBB is quite the chef extraordinaire, if you ask me.  He’s always got something delicious-looking on his blog, and if you ever need a new recipe for any occasion, I’d start on his site.

The whole plan for me trying his sloppy joe recipe, and for this series, kind of came out of nowhere.  We held a bonfire/BBQ here on Saturday, and as I was perusing my not-so-creative-lately mind for easy-to-prepare main dish ideas, I decided that we’d have Rick grill up some hot dogs (Rick’s grilling skills are AMAZING), and that I’d put together some sloppy joes.

I’ve got a pretty decent recipe for sloppy joes myself, but when Mr. CBB mentioned on a comment that he had a recipe for them that had been pretty well-received, I thought it might be fun to try it.  Here’s Mr. CBB’s pic of his joes:

And now for the famous recipe:

8 fresh Hamburger Buns or any Round Bun

• 1 can of Tomato paste 6 ounces
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2 table spoons white distilled vinegar
• 1 table spoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 teaspoon of dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano
• 1 teaspoon of dry basil
• 1/2 cup of  Tomato Ketchup
• 3/4 cup of water
• 2 yellow onions chopped
• 1 large green pepper chopped ( or any colour you like)
• 4 cloves of garlic chopped fine
• 4 tablespoons of brown sugar packed
• 1lb of Lean Beef ( or whichever you prefer can be chicken or turkey etc)
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

You can find the exact instructions here for putting them together.   This is an easy-to-make recipe, and perfect for parties.

What was different about this recipe: The basil.  Usually we only put basil in Italian-type dishes like Spaghetti, but it was a great addition here.

What we changed:  We halved the sugar, only because I’m trying to keep our sugar intake low.  But the brown sugar was a wonderful touch.

The consensus:  Everyone LOVED them.  My son even asked to have more for dinner the next evening.

Recommendations:  I would highly recommend this tasty recipe for any group gathering, potluck, or to freeze in 2-4 serving portions ready-to-heat for quick dinners.  It’s good stuff! We’ll never use canned sloppy joe sauce again!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this first installment of our recipe of the week.  If you’re interested in submitting your favorite or different recipe for this series, just let us know by using our Contact Us form.  Enjoy!