Super Chef Sandy is back today with a truly timely recipe chock-full of money- and time-saving tips.

It involves beef. Need I say more?

Does she rock or what?

Check it out . . .

Seems everywhere you go, from every corner of the Internet, newspaper and even at the local coffee shop people are talking about cutting back.  It’s enough to make you crazy, even if the downturn hasn’t hit you personally.  I was reading some magazines at the dentist’s office today and even some of the movie stars interviewed said they are cooking at home more and eating out less. 

What are you doing to reduce your food budget?  Seems many more people are cooking at home, and one of the questions I often get asked is how people can make their budget stretch farther and reduce the time and effort to cook meals.  And have some variety. 

4 days ago we had pot roast for dinner.  It was fabulous.  Two nights ago we had strip steaks, and they were delicious too.  We do enjoy our beef, but we had leftovers of both, not enough for a meal composed of either.  Rather than have an arm wrestling match over who gets what, or going out for takeout, here’s what I did:

Enchilada Steak Pie

About 1 pound of beef, cooked and chopped

1 cup enchilada sauce (your favorite jarred enchilada sauce)

1 cup leftover gravy (or just use more enchilada sauce)

1 cup frozen corn

1 fresh tomato, chopped

1 cup shredded Mexican cheese, mixed (I used 2% milk Kraft cheese), divided

1 package cornbread mix

1 egg (separate white from yolk)

1 egg white

½ cup milk

1 cup tortilla chips, crushed

Preheat oven to 400. Spray non-stick cooking spray onto sides of deep casserole dish or glass baking dish, then add beef, gravy (if desired), sauce and vegetables as desired.  Stir and top beef mixture with cheese.  Place meat mixture in oven while you prepare the cornbread (below) to get the meat and the dish hot. 

In a separate bowl, beat 2 egg whites until stiff peaks form.  In a small bowl, mix dry cornbread mix, egg yolk, milk and ½ cup cheese until combined.  You may add an additional 1 cup of vegetable to the cornbread mix, such as diced zucchini, more frozen corn, diced tomatoes or peppers for color.  Stir in ½ of beaten egg whites to lighten the mixture, and then gently fold in the remaining egg whites.  Gently spread this cornbread mixture over the meat mixture.

Bake for 15 minutes until cornbread is solid on top and beginning to brown.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with crushed chips and additional cheese.  Return to oven and bake until cornbread is cooked through, about an additional 10 minutes.

Serve with a green salad, maybe with some chopped avocado and tomato and a simple vinaigrette, some chips and hot sauce and voila — dinner (again!)

To make this meal even faster to put together, assemble all of the base ingredients the night before (as you clean up,) and just prepare the cornbread right before serving.  Prepare your salad while the casserole cooks and you will still have time to enjoy a cerveza or margarita while your family’s dinner cooks itself in the oven.  Don’t you just love casseroles?

So go ahead and enjoy cooking your favorite meals, especially when you can be creative and repurpose your protein.  Even those of you who claim not to like leftovers will be hard pressed to recognize them when they are so well disguised!  Who can argue with saving money and time in this day and age?

Kabobs are fantastic as a meal or even appetizers.

At our huge family shindig we set them out and let the people decide.

Kinda like a democracy. But not.

Here are Sandy’s thoughts on creating the perfect kabobs. We used tenderloin tips that were so, so tender. Pay close attention to Sandy’s tip about soaking the wooden skewers. Advice worth its weight in gold!

Tenderloin Kabobs

One of the ways to save money while you are eating great is to maximize your usage of your groceries.  Although perhaps an obvious point, take it to the extreme.  Buy a great cut of meat like a whole tenderloin.  To insure even cooking, you will want the piece to be symmetrical, which because it is a natural product, means you will have to trim off the ‘tail’ end.  And if you have access to a wholesale tenderloin, you will also trim the ‘chain’ meat.  What to do with all of these trimmings?  Have a great ‘second’ meal with your delicious meat – make kabobs!  Kabob-ing also stretches your budget by adding lower cost items (veggies) and decreasing the portion size of the meat. 

Kabobs also work with less tender cuts of meat, but you will have to marinate the meat overnight to make it tender.  Kabobs made with tenderloin tips are quick and easy to put together, and any marinating should be brief and just to enhance flavor.  An important tip if you are using wooden skewers – SOAK them for about ½ hour in water before you skewer anything with them – lay them in a 9×13 pan and just cover with water before you start prepping anything else.  If you don’t soak them, they will burn and disintegrate on the grill and all of your subsequent work will be wasted – still tasty, but not so pretty.

Tenderloin Kabobs

For 4 People

1# Tenderloin Tips or Sirloin

Vegetables, including sweet onion, garlic cloves, multi-colored bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini or corn on the cob would also be tasty and pretty. Also possible would be par cooked root vegetables, such as red potatoes or carrots.

Cut the meat into about 1 in chunks.  Season the meat well with salt, pepper, garlic and/or onion powder or your favorite steak seasoning.  Cut the vegetables into appropriate sized chunks, probably a little larger than the meat.  If you are using red potatoes or carrots, cook them briefly in boiling water until they can be just pierced with the sharp tip of a knife.  Toss all of your vegetables in a large bowl with a few tablespoons of oil, olive or your favorite, and season well with your favorite seasonings.  There is no rule for how to skewer the shish kabobs, but variety is always pretty.  Even people who may not eat the red peppers or onions still may appreciate how they look on the skewer and how they season the meat as it all cooks together. 

Cook the skewers over a medium high grill until they reach your level of desired doneness.

Serve with a rice pilaf.

If you care to marinate the meat, here is a quick recipe:

1 cup red wine

½ cup fresh herbs

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1-3 cloves fresh chopped garlic (1-2 tsp)

Freshly ground pepper

Combine the ingredients, and pour into quart sized zip bag. Add meat, seal and remove air and refrigerate up to 2 hours, turning every 20 minutes.

If you’ve been reading this blog, you know my sister-in-law Sandy takes every meal to another level of flavor-infused goodness.

Even something like tacos become THE BEST TACOS YOU’VE EVER HAD.

Here, Sandy tells us just what she did to wow our family with a smorgasbord of flavors, colors, and amazing scents — all the things that make a great meal.

Taco Night.  Our first meal in Florida as a large group came together pretty quickly.  Nothing fancy, but everyone really enjoyed it.  I think there were about 14 of us on taco night, and this meal came together in less than an hour. 

I think the secret to good tacos is using good quality beef and cooking it well, without quite as much seasoning as those little packages suggest you use.  Try using a little less (I use only about a third a package per pound of meat) and seasoning the meat with a little salt and fresh ground pepper and your favorite salsa or picante sauce.  This is a super quick meal that is fun for a crowd, and can really be put together very quickly if you get organized.  Do all of your chopping to start, then start on what takes longest.  Get your guests to help – chop garnishes, make margaritas, etc.

0.  Prep Garnishes and/or recruit volunteers to prep garnishes and get drinks going.

1. Begin Rice.  Dice all of the onions needed for the recipes (1 ½) and peel and dice carrot for rice. Start rice pilaf by cooking vegetables, and then adding rice, cooking liquid and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and set timer for 20 minutes. 

2. Begin Black Beans and Taco meat  : chop bacon and add to cold frying pan. Turn heat to medium and cook bacon until brown, add beans and picante sauce and cook over low heat until thoroughly warmed thru and beans are tender.  Meanwhile, heat oil and begin taco meat preparation as directed below. Add liquid to beans as necessary to prevent beans from burning. Mash beans as desired with potato masher, fork or handheld blender.

3. Preheat oven for crispy taco shells when the rice has just a few minutes left.  The taco shells take less than 5 minutes to warm up- don’t let these suckers burn, they go quickly!

Quick Tacos for a Crowd

1 Tbsp Canola or vegetable oil

1 medium onion, diced small

3# Ground Beef, 85%-95% Lean Ground Sirloin or other good quality Beef

1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1 pkg taco seasoning (for 1# ground beef)                                                                                

Heat oil over medium/high heat in large heavy bottomed skillet or saucepan until shimmering, then add onion and cook until translucent.  Add ground beef, salt and pepper.  Cook until ground beef is brown.  If there is excessive fat, beef may be drained at this point.  Add taco seasoning and water as directed on package.  Cook as directed, adding salt and pepper and or hot sauce as necessary and to taste.

Scrumptious “Refried” Black Beans

6 strips bacon, chopped

2 cans black beans or “refried” style black beans

½ cup picante sauce or salsa

½ cup cheddar or Monterrey jack cheese

Spanish Style Rice

2 carrots, peeled and diced

½ onion, diced

1 package yellow rice, plus water for package directions (may substitute ½ cup picante sauce for ½ cup of the water called for on the package directions)

Taco bar Condiments:

Shredded Lettuce

Diced Tomatoes

Salsa

Diced Avocado or Guacamole

Shredded Cheese

Crunchy Taco Shells

Tortilla Chips