www.RadiatorToast.com

In this installment, I want to give you a “quick and dirty” way to carve a turkey.  The goal is to get a bunch of meat, and spend as little time doing it as possible….

Now: this is assuming you’ve let your bird cool for about 20 minutes, and you’ve got a decent knife to carve with.  Here’s a pic from the folks at Butterball:

Step 1.

Cut band of skin holding drumsticks. Grasp the end of the drumstick. Then place a knife between drumstick/thigh and body of the turkey, and cut through skin to joint. Remove entire leg by pulling out and back, using the point of the knife to disjoin it. Separate the thigh and drumstick at the joint.

Step 2.

Insert fork in upper wing to steady turkey. Make a long horizontal cut above wing joint through to body frame. Wing may be disjointed from body, if desired.

Step 3.

Slice straight down with an even stroke, beginning halfway up the breast. When knife reaches the cut above the wing joint, slice should fall free on its own.

Step 4.

Continue to slice breast meat easily by starting the cut at a higher point each time.Enjoy,

TO FREEZE:
Freeze the cooked meat for up to 6 months (three is better) in a nice freezer bag or a piece of tight-sealing tupperware—-you can toss it in with your mac’n'cheese, make turkey salad sandwhiches, or make any number of casseroles.  Then there’s always the ole turkey with taters and gravy fallback.  I will try to post at least one “Leftover Turkey” recipe shortly.  SIDEBAR: Some who like to cook at home more will boil the bones and save the broth for soups and gravies and what-not as well—–feel free to use it all up and really get your monies’ worth!

~Penny

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Greetings All (or shall I say, “Gobble Gobble”?),

This year, as in years’ past, I hope to make your turkey shopping trip easier—assuming you live in the Twin Cities Metro, that is.  Enjoy!

~Penny

DEALS THIS WEEK:
Rainbow Foods: frozen jenni-o’s for 37 cents per lb; limit one with coupon.  Coupon in Sunday ad, mid-week mailer, and last page of Local section of the St. Paul Pioneer Press….not sure if they have the coupons available in store?

Cub Foods: will price-match competition.  Otherwise, use Sunday ad coupon and get up to one frozen bird for 39 cents per lb (10+ lb turkeys).  Also had 99 cent/lb Sunday ad coupon for another brand o’ bird.

Walmart: Get a frozen turkey for 40 cents/lb up until next Wednesday.

Target: They have some buy-this-get-that type deals, but if we’re strictly talking turkey, you can get ‘em while they’re hot between 60-88 cents per lb (not surprisingly, generic Target label costs the least).

Aldi’s: Their Butterball turkey’s are listed at 99 cents/lb, but they are also offering smoked ham shank portions for 99 cents/lb.

Meanwhile, don’t forget to stock up on other door busters like canned/frozen veggies, stuffing mix, (frozen) pie, instant and fresh potatoes, coffee, and butter—these items all freeze or sit on the shelf well

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G’mornin,

The following is a breakdown of what to do now that you bought your bird.  There are a few steps, so (as always) feel free to email me your comments and questions: penny@radiatortoast.com.

1. THAW

You have two options to thaw.  The safe thaw way is to throw it in your fridge—this method requires 24 hours for every 5 lbs.  So—if you have a 15 lb turkey, plan on three straight days.  Try  to put it in a shallow container to collect the water and such, but otherwise just let it be.  If you need to quick thaw, put your bird in the sink and cover it in cold water.  You have to switch out the water every half hour or so, but you thaw at a rate of about 2 lbs/hour.  This way, if you have a 15 lb turkey, it’ll take under 8 hours.

2. ROAST

Roasted Turkey

You’ll need: butter or vegetable oil, S&P, a baster, a meat thermometer (don’t even try the “pop up” indicator—garbage), a roasting pan, a carving knife, and some aluminum foil.
   i. Unwrap your bird.  Remove the innards and toss ‘em (sidebar: it’s not the safest/best idea to cook stuff inside the bird.  Just plan on making your sides on the side, you dig?).  Wash the inside and outside with cold water.
   ii. Place your bird in your (oiled) roasting pan.  Melt your butter or use some vegetable oil and rub all over inside and outside of bird.  Next, rub whatever spices you care to use (S&P, rosemary, what-ev) .
   iii. Preheat oven to 325.  If possible, re-arrange the racks so that your bird will be as close to the center of the oven as possible.  Now you have two choices again.  If you want a crip-sy turkey, just place it in the oven as is.  If you want a juicier bird, tent the top with tinfoil.  Plan on cooking the bird according to this chart:

   iv. Every half hour or so, baste the bird with the juices in the pan.  For the last hour of cooking, remove the foil. 
   v.  Before you remove the bird from the oven, insert the meat thermometer into the breast meat area—it should register 170-F….
   vi.  Remove the bird from it’s pan and let it cool for 20 minutes or so.  If you want, you can take this time to make gravy out of the juice (under the layer of fat) in the roasting pan.  Here’s a link to an easy-peasy recipe from the peeps at Butterball: http://www.butterball.com/recipe/turkey-gravy-with-pan-drippings?filters%5Bnext_page%5D=3&filters%5Bprev_page%5D=1&filters%5Brecipe_type_name%5D=Sauces%2BGravies

Up Next: How to carve a turkey.  I went ahead and tried this once—it’s semi-messy/slippery, but totally worth it

Enjoy,

~Penny

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Hi Everyone,

Today at lunch, as I was sharing some “door buster” grocery store deals ‘o the week with a co-worker, we ended up talking about everyday cheap filler items.

While everyone at the table longed for the grocery prices of even three years ago (man have they gone up; and they don’t appear to be slowing down much when it comes to staples!), we also started talking about what was *still* a relatively good deal.  Here is the Top 10 $1 Wonders list for present-day Minneapolis.  These food items should cost about $1 or less at typical large grocery stores (Cub, Aldi, Rainbow, Walmart, Target) and dollar stores.  And who knows?  Maybe one of ‘em will help you stretch your household food budget a wee bit farther….

 
1.  Canned beans
2.  Bananas
3.  Canned tuna
4.  1 jar/can Spaghetti Sauce
5.  Pasta, Rice, Tortillas
6.  Pudding or Jell-o
7.  Oatmeal/other cereal
8.  Eggs
9.  Ramen or Mac N Cheese*
10.  In-Season fruit/veggies (could be grapes or potatoes or tomatoes or ?)

*Sorry, but it’d hardly be a noteworthy list if I didn’t include this old college throwback!!

Happy Eating,

~Penny

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Aldi, Cub Foods, Dollar Tree, Rainbow Foods, snacks frugal groceries, target cheap food, Walmart cheap food, wedding frugal feed crowd budget

Greetings Everyone,

Someone asked me how they know when the Autumn deals that I blogged about HERE are actually a good deal.

The easy/universal answer to that question is: use a pricebook.  If you keep a simple list with four columns, you can track your most-frequently purchased items, the best deal you were able to get on the item, where, and when, you’re light years ahead of many people.

But, assuming that keeping a list doesn’t interest you, or you perpetually lose lists of this nature (ahem), then here’s a sample of what I personally would consider a deal for the different Autumn deal items—now, this is for the Minneapolis area, as of the most-recent figures I personally have come across.  Obviously, food prices are on the rise year over year, and where you live will affect the prices you pay for things…..

-canned beans (50 cents per can at Dollar General or Aldi’s for most generic varieties, if not slightly better for kidney beans)
-canned pie filling (pumpkin is all I personally would buy: maybe $1 for generic at Rainbow or $ Stores) 
-turkey (this is a loss leader around Autumn—I’d shoot for 37 cents per lb this year for a frozen bird; already being offered at Cub and Walmart!)
-ham (also a loss leader, but less frequent—maybe $1/lb for bone-in) 
-cheese (I strive for $1.50 per 8 oz of shredded at Rainbow or Walgreen’s)
-canned veggies (this appears to have ratcheted up since last season, but I would avoid paying more than 50 cents/14 oz can)
-potatoes (whether red or baking potatoes, usually a loss leader for $1/lb or less at big grocers)
-apples (I shoot for $1 or less per lb at most large grocers, or free from neighbors trees!)
-coffee (With coupons, I’d shoort for $5.50 for the big canister)
-baking stuff (varies: maybe $1 for 4 lb white sugar, $2 for non-generic choc chips, $1.00 for generic brown sugar, and $1.75 for 4-5 lbs white flour or $2 for 4 lbs wheat flour–all the better if you can add coupons to the mix)

Hope this helps you; please feel free to share some of your food price points with us in the comments below.

We’re (Still) All in This Together,

~Penny

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Hi All,

Date Night this past week consisted of the annual pumpkin carving; we did “Shrek” this year, if you’re curious!

Anywho, we also toast the seeds (hey; waste not, want not…..right?).  I thought I’d share the easy-peasy recipe, so you can do it, too.  Healthy, resourceful, and tasty; enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:
Clean and dry pumkin seeds
Cooking Spray*
Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
(*May sub with oil)

Spray your cookie sheet.  Dump seeds on top in a single layer.  Spray top of seeds.  Season.  Bake at 300 degrees for about 45 minutes.  May stir halfway through cooking if you like.  Store in an airtight container.

Mine looked like this:

 
~Penny

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Greetings and What-Not Fine Readers,

As we head into the official Fall (or winter here in Minnesota), I am reminded from some deep recess in my brain that it’s time to begin looking for certain seasonal deals.

I don’t know about you, but if you know me, then you’re aware that I have a great dry and canned goods pantry that I am pretty darned proud of.  I rely on that storage to keep me from taking the easy route and just going out to eat.  I rely on it to feed surprise dinner guests (between hubby and I, we have 6 brothers and 2 sisters).  And I rely on it to have on-hand all the makings of a simple meal whose ingredients I can control.

And that brings me to the “reminder” alarm that sounded in my brain the other night: seasonal sales.  Around Halloween-Christmas, many grocery stores offer Loss Leaders that are pantry or freezer-friendly.  The time for fresh veggies from the garden is dwindling or long-gone since the frosts have come, and folks are again gearing up to turn their ovens on, and have family over for Holiday gatherings.  I also personally believe that this stuff remains good past the “use by” date, but that’s another blog!

Here are some items I generally watch for; stock up on great deals where you can:

• canned beans
• canned pie filling (pumpkin, etc)
• turkey (freeze it)
• ham (freeze it)
• cheese (freeze it)
• canned veggies
• potatoes (harvest time!)
• apples (see above)
• coffee (freeze it)
• baking stuff (flour, choc chips, etc)

What about you?  What stuff are you finding great deals on now a days?   Please feel free to post your questions and comments below.

Happy Savings!

~Penny

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fall food deals, fall loss leaders, seasonal food bulk, seasonal food purchase

Greetings Everyone,

A few weeks ago, I tried a new-to-me recipe and they went like hot cakes!  As is my way, they’re relatively cheap, relatively fast, have NO weird ingredients, and are extremely easy to make (ummm…can ya stir and bake?).  Great fall recipe for potlucks, bake sales, neighbors, etc.  The following recipe makes 24 muffins, and costs perhaps $2/dozen.  Took me seriously 25 minutes start to finish. 

Alternatively, you could make smaller (less impressive?) muffins and reduce your cost—could stretch to 3 dozen muffins by filling cups half way and reducing cook time by a few minutes—these freeze well fer later

Enjoy!

~Penny

INGREDIENTS:
4 eggs
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin guts
12 oz (1 bag) mini choc chips
1&1/3 cups vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups flour (wheat flour okay)
2 cups white sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
Muffin cup liners or non-stick spray

DIRECTIONS:
In a large bowl, mix pumpkin, eggs, sugar, and vanilla well.  Add all BUT chocolate chips and mix thoroughly.  Fold in chocolate chips (to fold in means to “gently stir in”).  Spray your muffin tins (OR use paper liners).  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Fill each cup about 3/4 full.  Bake 18-24 minutes (the ones on the top rack will bake a teensy bit slower).

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Hi All,

I am pleased to announce that I have been keeping my “Date Night” with my new husband in all but one instance (family birthday event trumped us).  In an effort to share the love, here are 10 ideas we have used, may use, or will use for date night ideas during the Fall season:

1. Pick a pumpkin from a pumpkin patch (alternate: hayride, haunted hayride/house, etc).

2.  Maybe a week or so before Halloween: carve said pumkin together.  Bake the seeds (note: I like to season mine with Lawry’s).

3.  Go apple or berry picking.  I LOVE to do this every year.  Then, of course I make tons of apple recipes and junk.  I know it’s sorta nerdy, but I really just look forward to it every single autumn….and all the dates I’ve taken (over the years!) have been happy they went.

4.  Take a hike.  Or canoe trip.  Or a drive.  And check out the beautiful fall colors while they last.  You can google ways to explore…canoe rentals are surprisingly easy/cheap depending upon where you go.  Bring a sack lunch and a camera.

5.  One word: Oktoberfest.

6.  Sign up for a free or cheap Community Education class.  Yes; some of these are FREE.  Most last just one night for maybe an hour or two; others are a series of classes once a week.  My fav’s so far have been “Intro to Ballroom Dancing” and “Real Ways to Save Money And the Earth Around the House”.  I hope to do another exercise class, and maybe a cooking class as well in the coming year.  Google your area for more info.

7.  Pay it forward.  Offer to watch someone else’s kid(s) for a night or afternoon.  Play in leaf piles (raked from your yard is even better—gotta love child labor, haha); bake, watch a movie and make pizza….whatev is age appropriate.  Also: REALLY appreciated by the parents, and you can see what you’re made of as far as taking care of a kid together.

8.  Volunteer together.  Not every place needs a regular commitment.  Check out Volunteer Match or Habitat For Humanity or your local food shelf for opportunities.  One couple I know donates every Thanksgiving Day to a local foodshelf……

9.  Make it Hot.  I always like the idea of cooking together as a date.  Then again, I like food.  Choose an ingredient, or a recipe you’ve been meaning to try, or a type of cuisine, and get cookin!  Bonus: if it’s good; share with your neighbors—they’ll love ya for it, and probably will return the favor.

10.  Visit a wine tasting event.  Now’s the time where you’ll start to see these opportunities again after summer’s ended.  Check out local liquor stores for cheap or even free wine tasting events, or pay for ‘em through different private opportunities.

Have any great/cheap date ideas of your own for this time of year?  Please share!

~Penny

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