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chicken gizzards with rice noodles + veggies

i know not too many people are into chicken gizzards, but done properly, they are delicious. they’re also on the frugal end of prices, with a frozen packet coming to around $2.40.

ingredients:
- 1 frozen packet of chicken gizzards
- rice noodles
- green onions
- mushroooms
- broccoli
- spices

how to:
1) in a pan, cover the gizzards with water and set on a low heat; simmer, stirring occassionaly.  cook for about 1 hour or until they are soft (and not chewy)
***if you’re starting to run low on water, just add some; you dont ever want there to be none.
2) add paprika and pepper directly into pot and stir
3) cut up veggies (green onions, mushrooms, brocolli) and add directly into pan; stir.
4) if using fresh rice noodles, seperate each strand and add directly into pan; stir.
5) cook everything in the pot on a medium heat until most of the liquid has evaporated and noodles are cooked through.

serve and enjoy

makes enough for 2

meals for hard times – granola edition

i’ve noticed a huge interest in a post i did a while ago about having a $30 food budget so i thought i’d throw out some ideas on how to eat well on a small amount of cash.  i do have to say, that while i can be a pretty boring eater when the time calls for it, i can’t imagine eating this poorly all the time.  it does get boring.  if you have a stash of essentials (rice, macaroni, tuna in a can, veggies in a can, etc = tuna casseroll!!) you can just stick with those for your meals.  again, you’ll only get so many meals out of them that have variety but if you’re desperate and need to stretch those last few dollars….well, like my favourite quote says:

beggers can’t be choosy

everything below costs less than $30 and while you are sacrificing some veggies/fruit, they have not been cut out completely.  these are also staples i make sure to not run out of in my house as i know they can get us through a week of lunches & dinners if the circumstances call for eating on a tight budget:

• potatoes
• tuna/sardines
• brown rice
• mayo
• eggs
• apples
• carrots
• potato flour
• corn meal
• sugar
• spices (pepper, salt, paprika)
• some milk (or, if you’re like me and work in an office and they provide creamers, nab some of those and take ‘em home)

mashed potatoes + apple/carrots + fried egg = dinner option #1
brown rice + tuna + mayo + spices = dinner option #2
potatoes + potato flour + eggs = kopytka (potato dumplings)* = dinner option #3
sardines + eggs + mayo + rice = classic sardine eggs =  dinner option #4
brown rice + milk + sugar = rice pudding = dinner option #5
corn meal + milk = polenta** = dinner option #6
grated potatoes = potato pancakes*** = dinner option #7

additional option: if you have some brocolli/cheese/boullion cubes on hand, you can also make some cheesy potato soup.  its delicious and really quick to make.  just make sure to puree the all the ingredients well so there aren’t any lumpy bits.  its very filling, hearty, and a great comfort food (and a good way to use up potatoes!)

* these you can fry up with some butter/margarine and sugar, or onions, or mix in some cheese, or fry up with bacon….they’re versatile and you can get a few meals out of them depending on how and with what you cook ‘em with; literally anything on hand works.

**polenta is a really simple meal and a variation of it is a breakfast staple for kids in poland (its not thick and made with sugar and goes in a bottle – yummy!); polenta can be then fried up like the potato dumplings and eaten with a variety of flavours/sides.

***i’ll post a recipe of how i make them for you either wedensday or thursday; one of my favourites!

in times of eating on a tight budget, boredom can set in. one way to fight this, is to make some meals ahead and play around with what you are having for dinner and lunch on a particular day.  some of these can be made ahead and stored and then reheated, others are better eaten right away (potato pancakes for example).

for meals i haven’t posted a recipe for, i will do that for all of them this week/weekend.

questions? comments? i hope to hear from you about some of your favourite bare bones meals.

warm weather and britcom

sorry for the lack of posts; my internet at my new place is “sketchy” as i havent set up a new account with a provider just yet….i’m piggybacking off of the hotel next door and its super ssslllooowwww so picutres take forever to upload as does anything else to be honest. its rather frustrating but i know thats my own doing.  i’m lacking a big on funds right now due to the move so getting my own internet account for now will have to wait.  and on top of that, my charger for my camera is in my truck and not with me and of course, the camera battery flashes a mad red “no power” every time i turn it on and take a picture *sigh* i’ll have to pick it up this weekend…i miss not taking any photos.

this weekend my dad came over and setup some stuff for me, and then i was told that i’m getting new carpet installed so that halted anymore of the setup.  i’ve left everything else in boxes and just cleared up as much of the floor space as i could.  no word yet when the carpet will be replaced but they measured my flat this a.m. so thats the first step at least done.

the weather in the prairies of canada has been amazing lately so me and monkey took full advantage and spent nearly 2.5 hours at the playground yesterday.  to say she was tired later on in the evening is an understatment.  we didnt get back home until it was dark, thats how much fun she had.  thank goodness the park is a short 5-10 mins walk.  also, there is a communtiy skating rink setup that we may have to try one night….she has skates at her dad’s so whether i borrow those or just buy her some, we’ll have to go before it gets too cold to do so.  good way to burn up some energy of hers after she spends all day at the daycare. another thing i remembered when we hit up the playground, was that the park has an outdoor pool in the summer times; i’m super excited about that! we can spend our weekends enjoying the weather and sunshine once it warms up in the summer time.  double yey!!

other than that, the last few days have been pretty lax and easy going.  just trying to spend as much time with monkey as i can, doing as many fun things as we can while she’s in my custody.  we went out for vietnamese food on saturday night and lo’ and behold, she likes spring rolls!! that was great to find out.  we also watched a movie (“the Little Mermaid”) ad naseaum all weekend long when she had the chance to sit down and breath a little; its been one of my favourite movies as a kid and still makes me cry.  i also introduced her to walllace and gromit, whom i adore!! its such a great example of extremely well done clay animation!! and gromit (the dog) is beyond awesome!!  wallace’s love of cheese is such a fun quirk and always makes me hungry for cheese too *ha ha* if you  havent seen any shorts of wallace and gromit, i highly encourage you to do so; they are well worth the view for adult and kids.

got some good news from the CF recruiter today re me having graves’ disease and my application.  he said to do a “voluntary withdrawal” and reapply when i’m better, instead of having a “medical fail” on my record (which would be bad and much harder to overcome later on).  so it looks like my military careeer isnt dead, just on hold!!

 

*stitching…..