Hippie Chic's Makings

Showing posts with label good eats. Show all posts

Pulled pork, sauteed okra, and gratin Potatoes $88.00 budget

melissa

Pulled pork, sauteed okra, and gratin Potatoes $88.00 budget

Tonight is pulled pork, sauteed okra, and au gratin potatoes. This is day 3 of our $88.00 budget, Im not sure if I mentioned the okra in the...

Pork spare ribs, green beans, and mushroom spinach pasta

melissa

Pork spare ribs, green beans, and mushroom spinach pasta

feeding the masses with one rack of ribs. It can be done even on a paupers budget. I found Pork spare ribs b1g1 at bilo recently, and I'...

Showing posts with label good eats. Show all posts

Pulled pork, sauteed okra, and gratin Potatoes $88.00 budget

Tonight is pulled pork, sauteed okra, and au gratin potatoes. This is day 3 of our $88.00 budget, Im not sure if I mentioned the okra in the budget update yesterday, but it was part of it too, It was one of the frozen veggies one of our fine young adults brought into the meal budget this week, and I was going to do corn on the cob tonight but I thought for color balance purposes Id go with the Okra instead.

None of the critics are home yet to try it all out, but I think they will be pleased. I tried it and I am happy with the results.

In other news baby Paisley has learned her first word. Ever since her mama watched Hotel Transylvania with Paisley's big sister she has tried to teach her to say "blah blah" and well here we are at the 5 month mark and guess what her first word is.. Yep!!! Blah Blah..

She is eager to talk, so she throws some other sounds in there too just for flavor, and its the cutest thing ever.. Wanna see a video of it? Well probably you don't but being proud grandma that I am.. Imma show you anyway..

But here is a peek at tonight's dinner and I'm proud to say I have at least 2 more meals worth of meat in the fridge if not more so our $88.00 looks like it is going to do what needs done.

good eats, budget eating, pulled pork recipes, cooking, cheap dinner meals

Pulled pork, sauteed okra, and gratin Potatoes. The will have their choice if they want it on bread, and if they want BBQ sauce with it. This is hubby's plate and his take on meat is "if its cooked right I don't need the frills" so I am fairly confident I cooked it right and I have not given him any frills with it.

All three recipes are fairly simple. I like fairly simple. I like lots of flavor and not a lot of work. But I like for it to seem like I did a lot of work, I think this seems like that.. Im not telling them that I popped that pork roast in the oven for 4 hours and took a nap. They don't need to know all that.

Lately Ive just felt drained, Im not normally a napper but recently, I blame menopause and night sweats and lack of sleep at night because of night sweats for the much needed nap in the middle of the day. But they don't need to know that either..

Some of the ingredients you will read are not included in the list of things we bought this week, but some things you just don't buy every week, thank goodness for that..

But here are the recipes and I hope you enjoy them

Pulled pork, this is the last part of our tenderloin that we had cut into 2 roasts and 12 pork chops... It has served us well..

Pulled pork

1 pork roast

2 1/2 tbsp honey dijon mustard

2 tbsp instant coffee

1cup pepsi cola

1 tbsp liquid smoke

1 cup vinegar

garlic powder to taste

onion powder to taste

salt to taste

Sriracha seasoning blend to taste

reserve 1/2 cup pepsi and 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar and 1 tbsp instant coffee, for after cooking mix all other ingredients except pork in a bowl and rub into pork roast wrap tightly in tin foil let set for 30 minutes and then cook at 325 in the oven for 4 hours

once roast is done mix remaining pepsi, apple cider vinegar, lemon pepper, and coffee and set side while you shred the pork.. Pour these ingredients onto pork stirring to mix everything up really well and serve with buns or as is..

Gratin Potatoes

8 medium sized potatoes washes and cubed

1 stick butter melted

1/2 cup bacon ranch salad deressing

1/4 cup plain yogurt

1 cup shredded cheddar

salt to taste

onion powder to taste

parsley for pretty

celery salt to taste

Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl until potatoes are well coated then transfer to a greased baking dish and cook in a 350 oven for 40 minutes covered tightly

remove foil and cook an additional 20-25 minutes until golden brown

let stand for 5-10 minutes for sauce to thicken

Sauteed Okra

1 bag frozen whole okra

1/2 stick butter

salt to taste

pepper to taste

onion powder to taste

add all ingredients to a frying pan and cook over medium high heat until okra changes color (about 12 minutes for froze okra)

Simple effective crowd pleasing meals.. I probably should have done a dessert but, they probably should have done some laundry too so it all balances out I reckon..

Pork spare ribs, green beans, and mushroom spinach pasta

feeding the masses with one rack of ribs. It can be done even on a paupers budget. I found Pork spare ribs b1g1 at bilo recently, and I've never cooked ribs very much, mainly because it wasn't something Im very familiar with, We didn't eat ribs much growing up and as an adult I just steered clear of them for cuts I was more familiar with. But B1G1 I went for it, and I'm glad I did.

Here is the rib recipe, and then Ill share the pasta and bean recipe and a little secret I use for flavoring foods.

The Spare Ribs

I cooked them from semi frozen meat side up.

1 rack of ribs

1 tbsp instant coffee

1 tbsp franks red hot

seasoned salt (to taste)

pepper (to taste)

Preheat oven to 350 , roll out enough tin foil to wrap your ribs tightly and spray with cooking spray. Place ribs meat side up in center of foil

mix all other ingredients in a small bowl and rub into the meat

wrap ribs tightly in the foil and cook for 3 hours

after 3 hours reduce heat to 300 and cook for another hour

remove from oven let stand 10 minutes before unwrapping and serve with you your favorite bbq sauce. optional)

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Now before I move on to the other recipes I want to clue you in on the best flavor aid ever. I stumbled onto it a couple of years ago when the kids and I were sending care packages to soldiers overseas where pork products were not allowed. I wanted to send them something bacon flavored but without actual bacon in it. You can sign up to send care packages to soldiers at anysoldier.com there is no charge. We did it in our homeschooling. But back on track now..

I found this little gem...

Bacon flavoring powder...

There is a thing on the market you can buy in local stores called bacon salt, and it is awesome too, but this stuff its not salt. It's smoked bacon flavor lends itself well to desserts and meats and veggie dishes its also hella awesome in boiled peanuts.

Now with that said lets move on the the green bean recipe

Green Beans

2 cans green beans or 2 cups if using frozen

1/3 stick of butter

dash of salt

1 tsp bacon flavored powder

put all ingredients in a pot and simmer until heated through

simple as that

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Mushroom and spinach Alfredo pasta

1 box your choice pasta ( I used spaghetti)

1 block cream cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 cup milk
1 can mushrooms drained

2/3 - 1 cup cup chicken broth (more for thinner sauce, less for thicker sauce)

1/3 cup spinach

1 tsp bacon grease or 1/3 stick butter

salt to taste

garlic powder (to taste)

onion powder (to taste)

start with butter and cream cheese in a pot (i used cast iron skillet) stir over medium heat until ingredients are melting then slowly add milk a little at a time stirring constantly so ingredients do not stick to bottom, when all ingredients are mixed well add chicken broth, spices, and parmesan cheese, stir until mixed well, add pasta and spinach simmer over medium stirring occasionally about 12 minutes then reduce to low heat and put a lid on let simmer with lid about 5-7 minutes turn off heat and let stand briefly while sauce continues to thicken..

and all that equals this yummy supper..