Let's play "Chopped!"

I always hit the discount sections of the supermarket. My favorite is the discount produce rack. My market always (usually...) has a great supply of fruits and veggies that might not be "pretty" enough to be displayed on the shelf, or might need to be eaten in the next couple days. Between my dehydrator, juicer, canning, and soups, I have no problem taking many pounds of peppers, apples, mushrooms, etc off their hands at a great price! (usually they have perfect apples on there for $0.49/lb! Even organic apples!)

Anyway, my market also has a discount dairy shelf, bakery, grocery, deli and even meats.  I have decided lately, that instead of thinking to myself... "Hmmm, I think I will make this particular thing for dinner."   I allow the discount racks to dictate my ingredients for what I am going to make. Today was a great windfall!  Not a lot of produce (that makes me sad as I was hoping to resupply my dried apples) but there was hamburger for $1.49 lb! I had also found a dozen organic eggs for $1.50 and a large can of tomatoes for 50 cents. This of course made me think.. " I do believe I will be making a meatloaf for dinner!" I had also seen breadcrumbs on the rack, but on second check, it was cheaper to buy a discount loaf of italian bread for $1 and then I could make my own breadcrumbs. 

I got home and sliced the Italian bread, put it all onto cookie sheets in a single layer in a 300° for 15 minutes, then turning and giving it another 15 minutes. Then I tossed them into my food processor and pulsed them down into bread crumbs!

I decided to go with this recipe for meatloaf. It looks interesting. I will update with reviews from myself and the man. 

For dessert, I am going to make strawberry shortcake! My boyfriend had just said last night that strawberry shortcake was one of his favorites, but with the strawberry filling type strawberries instead of fresh. There happened to also be cans of strawberry pie filling on the discount rack!  He was adamant that it be with the biscuit type shortcake instead of the sponge cake type cake. So, I decided I will make my biscuit recipe I have had made since I was a teenager. 

Sky~High Biscuits

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (or just another cup of white)
• 4½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ tsp cream of tartar
• ¾ cup COLD butter
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 cup milk (I used vanilla almond milk)

In a bowl combine the flours, baking powder, salt, and cream of tartar. 
Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
Add egg and milk, stirring quickly and briefly. Knead lightly on a floured board. 
Roll or pat gently to 1-inch thickness. Cut into 1-2 inch biscuits. Place in a greased 10 inch iron skillet or 9 inch square pan. For crusty biscuits, separate on a cookie sheet. Brush the top of the biscuits with milk.
Bake at 450° for 12 to 15 minutes. 

PASTA!!

Last week I found this pasta machine in a thrift store for $9.99. I HAD to get it since it is normally sold for about $90. Today was pasta day!  

I had was out of white flour and so I used whole wheat and spelt. I made a ring of 2 1/2 cups of whole wheat and 1 cup of spelt. Then broke 4 eggs into the well and sprinkled about a teaspoon of salt on it. Mixed up the eggs in the well slowly incorporating the flour until I was able to make it into a dough ball. I kneaded the ball for about 5 minutes, trying to make sure not to let it get too tough.  I had a lot of flour left (and made another couple of 1 egg batches).  I then flattened it out with a roller (flouring it as needed ) and fed it through the pasta maker. I cooked some right away for about 4 minutes in boiling water. It worked! I was amazed! And now I have a whole bunch of pasta made up and drying. I am going to try a gluten free batch next :)