Reducipe - Green Beans With Caramelized Onions

Sooo good! I have vivid memories of picking fresh green beans as a child. I remember searching for them like prizes, cracking off the crisp ends, and eating them raw.

They were so fresh and vibrant. Their flavor so undeniably green.

Of course, after a few bites I’d remember that they were vegetables and stop eating them but I’d cheerfully resume harvesting them and snapping off the tips.

Every time I trim green beans the aroma takes me back. I still love green beans and I enjoy serving them whenever I can. They can be dressed up in a ton of ways or served simply with butter and salt and pepper. Either way they shine in my eyes.

This recipe takes inexpensive ingredients and combines them with a little time and effort to create something extraordinary.

Caramelized onions are a fabulous companion to green beans. When you cook onions beyond translucence and start to caramelize them they develop an intense sweetness and complexity that’s simply magical. Oh, they are sooo good. The toasted almonds add a pleasant crunch and the butter really rounds out the flavor. This side dish tastes so good it graces the table at many special occasions and it’s usually the first thing cleaned off the plate.

Don’t even think about trying this with canned green beans. Something about the canning process strips them of the lovely qualities that make green beans good eats. They turn out lifeless and limp, with no traces of “green-ness”. In my opinion, canned green beans are only marginally permissible for soups and casseroles and never ok for side dishes. If you plan to serve green beans as a side dish and you can’t find them fresh, at least go with frozen.

Green Beans with Caramelized Onions

2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons canola oil
2 large sweet onions, sliced thin
1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Fill a medium pot with some water. Place over high heat and bring up to boil; add a big pinch of salt and the green beans. Cook for about 5 minutes, the beans should still be crisp. Drain the beans and then run them under some cold water to stop them from cooking. Set aside.

Place a large skillet over medium heat. Add the almonds and toast, stirring frequently until golden, about 3 minutes. Remove the almonds from the skillet and reserve.

Return the skillet to the heat and add the butter and olive oil and heat until the butter has melted. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper, and cook stirring frequently until the onions caramelize, 20 to 25 minutes. Add the thyme, and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the cooked cooled green beans and almonds, and stir well to combine and heat through. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serves 6.

This recipe isn’t what I’d call a quick dish because it does take some time and attention to caramelize the onions until they are just right. It is worth the effort, I promise you. If you have never tasted caramelized onions do yourself a favor and try them tonight. You will love them.

Ingredients for Green Beans with Caramelized Onions

Tips: If you notice the onions starting to burn just lower the heat a little and keep stirring. You don’t want them to burn or crisp, you want them to get incredibly soft and sweet. Make sure to pull the green beans from the water when they seem a little under done or you will risk over cooking them later on. You still want them to have some crunch left after all is said and done.

Ingredient	Cost	Ingredient	Cost
Green Beans	$3.98	Onions	$1.46
Almonds	$0.35	Thyme	$0.15
Butter	$0.12	Spices	N/A
Canola Oil	$0.18	Total	$6.24 or $1.04 a serving

Short of growing the green beans and thyme at home I’m not sure how this recipe could get much cheaper. Enjoy!

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On My Own (For A While)

My husband left me! Yesterday, before the sun even came up, Eric was on his way to the airport for an extended trip. 2 weeks. He doesn’t even get to come home over the weekend. It’s the longest we have been apart since we have known each other.

It’s going to be a lonely few weeks while I hold down the fort.

When Eric goes on business trips, I find that my “alone self” faces several challenges that have the potential to affect my budget. I think we all have little things we do (or don’t do) when our partners leave town. The changes in your behavior when you’re on your own can be subtle or obvious. Maybe you leave the dishes in the sink or rent lots of movies when you are alone. Maybe you enjoy shopping sprees or rounds of golf at the country club.

Eric’s typical business trips are about 3-4 days long and the slight changes in my habits don’t usually cause any issues. But what about 2 weeks worth of that same behavior? That could cause budgetary distress.

This time, I decided to come up with a way to battle my quirky “on my own” habits before they add up to a problem.

Problem #1: The allure of the quick and easy
For me, it’s the evenings that are the worst. While I’m normally busy preparing for dinner, I now find myself no longer cooking for my usual audience. I love to cook, but mainly for other people’s pleasure. If it’s just for me I lean more towards making something quick and easy or getting take-out. Without an audience I won’t be in my normal dinner routine and making my typical economical dinners.

Solution: Keep on cookin’
I will invite several of my friends to come over in the evenings for dinner. By cooking for them I will maintain my normal cooking routine and keep my food costs down. I can also microwave the leftovers the next day to make quick heat-and-go meals. In order to resist the temptation to order out I will go to the store and get a few cheap and easy meals (like mini pizzas) for when I really want something bad. I expect the prepackaged food will raise my costs but not nearly as much as dining out would.

Problem #2: Fear of the boogeyman
I tend to be a little nervous at night when I’m home alone. I was afraid of the dark as a child and that same fear still affects me when I’m by myself sometimes. Because of that I find myself keeping way too many lights on. Eric tells me that there is no reason to be afraid of the dark and while I understand that, it doesn’t seem to help when he leaves on trips. At least I don’t need to keep lights on all the time (it could be worse).

Solution: Make it cheaper to be irrational
This weekend we made sure to change out all the light bulbs for CFLs in the key places that I would want to leave on if I’m spooked (front door, back door, living room, kitchen). I will also make sure that I turn off any extra lights as soon as I’m up in the morning. I expect that I’ll be able to wean myself off the extra lights over the course of the 2 week period but if not, at least I’m only using a fraction of the energy I would have been with the regular light bulbs.

Problem #3: Staying connected
We like to stay in touch when one of us is out of town but to keep our cell phone costs at a minimum we keep our minutes at a minimum as well. One trip out of town and the whole month’s minutes can be used up if we aren’t careful.

Solution: Chat it up online
After work, we talk on the phone briefly to say “hi” and touch base. Then we both get on our computers and continue to talk about our day using instant messenger. This helps us to be able to chat for longer periods of time without blowing all our minutes. We already have unlimited online access so it works for us. As a bonus we can still get other work done on the computer while we chat. I love multitasking!

So, do you have any little habits that pop up when your partner goes out of town? Please share!

Image Source: malias

15 Random Household Tips From Cyberspace

Listen up! This weekend, I received an email from my father-in-law that had all sorts of household tips in it. Some of the tips I knew about but some I hadn’t seen before. I thought the 15 tips below were interesting enough to share with everyone. Hopefully you will find them helpful as well!

I haven’t tested these out yet but I did write some comments below.

If you have tried any of these tricks before please share with us if they really work!

1. Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

I may try this out on my leftover pizza for lunch today. It’s worth a shot!

2. Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

3. Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

4. Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

5. Newspaper weeds away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

Weeds can get through plastic but not wet newspaper? Hmmm.

6. Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can’t see easily.

I use a damp paper towel – that way my hands are protected and I can cover a larger area

7. Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn’t hurt the plant and the squirrels won’t come near it.

I wonder if this would get expensive? I wouldn’t do this around pets - the cayenne can irritate their eyes and nose.

8. Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

9. Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and — ta da! — static is gone.

This could come in handy - I’ve always had to use a static spray.

10. Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don’t dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

I like to rub my cups with a dab of oil so the ingredients slide out.

11. Foggy Windshields
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

12. Reopening envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

Putting the envelope in the microwave for a few seconds is quicker. I tried it out here.

13. Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It’s a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It’s also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn’t like when you tried it in your hair.

Great idea! I bet this would work just fine if you used a thin layer.

14. Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2″ with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

15. Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it “home,” can’t digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don’t have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

I’ve had ant problems before but never heard of this method.

Reducipe - Baked Dijon Salmon

Reducipe
Pronunciation: ri-doos-uh-pee
Function: noun
1 : a recipe that can help lower your food costs in a variety of ways
     a : by scaling back an expensive recipe to be less pricey but still just as tasty
     b : by turning an already inexpensive meal into something special
     c : by using leftovers in creative ways to stretch their use

Simple yet awesome! We like to try to include salmon in our meal plans when we can. Although it’s considered fatty, salmon is full of the good fats that you need in your diet. This week there was a sale on salmon so I picked up a pound to make this tasty Baked Dijon Salmon.

I tend to buy farmed salmon because it’s always cheaper around here. I know lots of people swear that wild salmon is the only way to go but it’s a budget killer for us. I’d rather get more fish, even if it’s not as high quality, than less fish in our diet. I just make sure to prepare it in delicious ways.

This is a good go-to dish when you want a quick and simple meal that isn’t too heavy. Not only is it is easy it combines spicy, sweet, and savory in a fabulous way. And the buttery golden brown crumbs on top really make it delectable and crowd pleasing. I bet kids would like this as well.

On weeks where I’m able to get fish I always prepare it the night I purchase it or the following night. Fish just doesn’t last in the fridge so plan for it to be one of the first meals following the shopping trip.

Baked Dijon Salmon

1 lb salmon fillet, cut into 4 pieces
Seasoning salt
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1-2 tablespoons honey
1 clove garlic, minced very finely (almost a paste is best)
3 tablespoons cornflake crumbs
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl stir together mustard, garlic paste, and honey. Set aside. In another bowl mix together corn flake crumbs and butter.

Sprinkle some seasoning salt over the salmon then place them in a shallow baking dish, skin side down. Spread the mustard mixture on the fillets, reserving a little of the mustard to serve on the side (if desired). Top with crumb mixture. Bake 10-15 minutes, until the fish is cooked through. Serve with lemon wedges and reserved honey mustard. Serves 4.

You can season the fish with any seasoned salt you like but we prefer Emeril’s Bayou Blast. It doesn’t have an overwhelming celery flavor like a lot of spice mixes have. The lemon is really important because it helps cut through the richness of the fish. The brightness really adds that special zing so don’t forget that squeeze of lemon!

Green beans or roasted veggies make a really good match for this dish. If you don’t have cornflakes on hand (I keep some crushed up in a Ziplock baggie) you could always substitute another crunchy crumb like panko. If you want to make it a little healthier lower the amount of butter or substitute olive oil.

Ingredient	Cost	Ingredient	Cost
Salmon	$6.71	Cornflakes	$0.05
Mustard	$0.30	Butter	$0.06
Honey	$0.16	Spices	N/A
Garlic	$0.02	Lemon	$0.17
		Total	$7.47 or $1.87 a serving

Obviously the bulk of the cost is in the fish itself. It’s pretty pricey so buying large amounts and freezing it would help lower that cost. This preparation adds minimal cost and considering how much flavor it adds it’s an even better bargain. Pair this fish with a steamed veggie side and you have a great healthy meal for under $3! Enjoy!

Don’t Save The Worst For Your Family

No crusty end pieces for me! This is a little off topic but I thought it was still worth posting.

I was feeling crabby after a particularly stressful day last week and I noticed that I was being a little short with Eric. We were doing our normal routine of chatting while I prepare dinner. It was a subtle change and he didn’t mention it but I knew I wasn’t being as nice as I could have been. He had done nothing wrong - I was simply allowing my frustration from earlier to affect my attitude that evening.

Whatever ticked me off that day was distracting me and stealing my time with my husband. I just had to let it go so we could enjoy our evening. I look forward to our conversations in the kitchen every night (it’s our time to connect and bond as a couple) and it would have been sad to let something trivial interfere with that. Now that I write this I don’t even remember what even irritated me that day. I guess that shows how important it was in the scheme of things, right?

Are you striving to give your very best at work only to end up giving your family the worst of you afterwards?

Do you exceed at your job only to come home and sit on the couch at night, too exhausted to interact meaningfully with your kids? Maybe you work so hard to keep the household and kids in order that you find yourself missing out on bonding time with your family? Are you known as “the nice one” in the office yet you rarely remember to say nice things to your spouse?

Pardon the horrible example, but it’s like giving your work the best part of the prime rib and giving your family the crusty little end pieces.

Sometimes we can get so caught up in our work and our problems that we forget what’s most important. Isn’t our family the reason we work so hard for in the first place? Shouldn’t we try to save a little of the best of us for the people that matter most in our lives?

I’m not trying to imply that you should do a less than stellar job at work. It’s only to remind you to show the ones at home some stellar treatment, too. The people who love you deserve it and the effort you put into those relationships will be worth more than anything you can achieve at work.

Image Source: VirtualErn