Oregano Update

This photo compares store bought oregano (top) with homegrown and dried oregano (below).

Pink Pickles

Maybe Peter Piper picked a peck of pink pickles?

After making ghetto prison pickles (see previous post),  I looked up a couple quick pickle recipes online and pickled a red onion. Most recipes call for dropping your vegetables and spices in a mason jar, then boiling your vinegar/salt/water solution and pouring it over the vegetables. If making sweet/bread and butter pickles add sugar.  I also recommend a mild white vinegar for pickling (I personally found that apple cider vinegar tastes worse and makes worse looking pickles as it adds a brown color to your vegetables). One large onion filled 2 mason jars for me. Store in the fridge and let it sit for a few days/weeks and you have quick pickles. I opted to pickle red onions and dropped some cucumber in for good measure.

Pizza Pie

All this pizza could really use some fresh tasty oregano.  No, not fresh oregano, but dried oregano.  No, not store bought brand name oregano.  No, not the far cheaper and infinitely stem-ier option from the foreign foods section oregano.  Fresh homemade dried oregano.

Step One: Pick your homegrown oregano (or pick someone else's, that's what I did.)

Step Two:  Rinse your oregano.

Step Three: Pick off the stem, leaving just leafy greens. (Or is that pick off the leaves, and discard the stems?)  You could probably dehydrate the oregano on the stem, but I figured that would probably just increase the drying time.

Step Four: Place the oregano on your beef jerky machine.

Pictured above: Step Four.

Step Five: Place the beef jerky machine on its lowest heat setting, in this case 95 degrees, and let the fan run to dehydrate and preserve that herb,

Step Six: Wait, I think that ~18 hours is the recommended time to let these leafy herbs dry out.  I just leave the dehydrater running overnight.

Step Seven: Place your herb in a food processor to grind it to a size that is desirable to your target consumer.

Step Eight: Store it as you please.

Pictured above: This is actually home grown basil in an old McCormick Basil container. Psyche your mind!

Step Nine: Add to your favorite pizza pie sauce.  Now we are working with some very unstable herbs!

Helping Fur Friends

capital_prototype had a problem over the summer: his headlamps had frosted over. What actually happens is a bit complex, but essentially the UV rays in the sun damage the plastic and a weird frosty crusty coating forms. Many DIY kits are sold to help fix this problem, but I have never gotten one to work.

It's basically toothpaste with a little piece of sandpaper. These things don't work. This does:

 

Add some cut compound. We used Chemical Guys Cut 1.0. 

Go to any garage and they will charge you $50 or more to restore your headlights...that is just robbery. We are frugal here on the fur (furgal) and we demand better. Here is an idea of what 1 minute with these real tools can do for basically free.

On the left we have an untouched headlight. On the right is the restored one. The photo doesn't do justice to the difference, but it really was almost night and day up close and in person. Be furgal fur people!

Sawsheezle does pizza: Part 6 - cost breakdown

These are typical ingredients I have been working with. I am quoting average prices I can find at the store. Here are the ingredients I am using:

Canned whole tomatoes: $0.60/lb
Wegman's Mozzarella cheese (bought in 5 lb bag): $2.73/lb
King Arthur Bread Flour: $3.99/5lbs
Big Pepporoni: $7.49/lb
Sausage: $3.50/lb
Onion: $0.99/lb
Yeast: $0.50/packet

Other ingredients used: water, olive oil, salt, fish sauce, some oregano and basil for flavoring.

So here is the breakdown for 1 pizza:

Tomato sauce:  9 ounces = 0.58lb @ 0.60/lb --> $0.35
Mozzarella cheese: 1.5 cups = 0.375lb @ $2.73/lb--> $1.02
Pepperoni: 0.5lb = 46 slices @ $7.49/lb  -->  6 sliced used = $0.49
Sausage: 1/6lb @ $3.50/lb --> $0.58
Onion: 3 ounces =  0.1875lb @ $0.99/lb --> $0.19
Yeast: 1/2 packet @ $0.50/packet --> $0.25
Flour: 3.5 cups = 1lb @  $0.798/lb --> $0.80


Total: $3.68

So how much do you guys spend on these ingredients? I can get some of this stuff cheaper at times, but I essentially have hit the price floor on cheese, tomatoes, and onions. Equipment/startup costs were not included, but between the stone, the dough docker, and the peel I have spent about $55.

And here is said pizza:

Question: why are we not opening a pizza restaurant? The margins on this thing could be ridiculous.

Frugal Pickles

So, I did this and the only reason I'm posting is because they tasted so damn good and it worked way better than I expected.

Last night I finished the last pickle from the pickle jar.  We also had about a half of a cucumber left over in the fridge.  Doesn't take a genius to slice the cucumber and toss it in the pickle jar.  And today, I ate the pickle and it tasted like a pickle.

Oh no, we're out of pickles!

Yay, more pickles!

So the moral of the story is, you can drop some cucumbers in your old jar of pickles and even though it sounds like an embarrassingly cheap overly frugal idea from a shitty yahoo! finance article about becoming a millionaire in ten easy steps, it actually worked quite well and is practical.  Just drop a sliced cucumber in your finished pickle jar for a low cost low effort way to get your pickle fix.

Sawsheezle does pizza: Part 5 - White Pizza and Docking Dough

I ran out of marinara sauce. It almost always lasts for exactly 4 pizzas, but this time I only got 3 out of it. I  decided to try my hand at a "white pizza". There are several kinds of "white" pizza with simpler recipes only calling for olive others...others call for cream and fancy cheeses. This is what I came up with.

Some ingredients:

*Not pictured: milk, flour, thyme, salt, pepper

Recipe:

2-4 Tbsp crushed garlic
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp thyme
1-2 Tbsp flour
1-2 Tbsp anchovy fish sauce
salt and pepper to taste

First get that butter melting.

Then get the garlic going in the butter. Make sure not to burn away the butter or to scorch the garlic.

Then add the thyme to get the aromatics, flavor, and beautification factor up there.

Now add the milk and stir around. This this is over medium to low heat the entire time.

Now add the cheese and flour. More flour will make a thicker sauce.

Then while that is cooking do something crazy and go back in time 6 hours to the grocery store and buy some fish sauce. Notice that is has a slightly sweet and salty yet complex flavor. Add to mixture and let simmer for five minutes while stirring and letting thicken up. You want to it be be lukewarm at most when you put it on the pizza.

Now get out your dough docker and let's dock. I bought this one: http://www.amazon.com/Winco-RD-5-Roller-Docker-Full-Size/dp/B001CDQ9GI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1413760556&sr=8-3&keywords=dough+docker

It seriously is like Thor's hammer man.

Here is some docked dough:

I prebaked the crust four 3.5 mins on the pizza stone in a 500 deg F oven. Notice that I cannot make a circular pizza anyway...skills fading...and the docking helped limit bubbles, but the crust was still thick. Thins crust needs more work...

Add that beautiful sauce. It was cheesy yet garlicy yet creamy yet with something else going on with that fish liquid. I was surprised it tasted so good. Now add cheese, I used cheddar and mozzarella for a nice color mixture, sausage, lots of onions thinly sliced (the thinner the better), and finish with fresh basil leaves.

Delicious. Seriously. It was amazing. Ate it while watching "Marry Me". Nice little combo. Went well with a robust IPA

Automatic Savings

I wanted to take a detour from the spending equation of our frugal obsession on this blog with my current post.  I finally (better late than never) set-up a recurring transaction to transfer cash from my checking account to my savings account that will transfer $50 on the 15th and the 30th or 31st (last day) of the month, which mimics my pay cycle.  

I would like to add that this fund transfer is to fund cash savings.  I am already contributing to a retirement account, but want to grow a cash savings account for any spending that may arise before I turn 59 and a half. 

I think this is common personal finance advice and something that I learned to be true for me when setting up my retirement savings account.  When you only get X dollars in your paycheck, you budget to that amount. This is true whether that's how much you get paid, or if you automatically get money withdrawn from that account through your retirement savings or, I hope, with this fund transfer.

I figure $50 is a good start and hope to be able to increase this transfer over time, as I continue to eliminate wasteful spending from my monthly expenditures.  I think that the key is getting started. 

So, how about you.  How do you save? Do you you have a recurring/automatic funds transfer that occurs with every paycheck?

Cottage Pie

Introducing a new series, where I attempt to share recipes under $3 per serving.

The first recipe in this series is Cottage Pie, and the ingredient listing with the per cost breakdown is as follows:

Directions:

Step One: Make mashed potatoes.  

Step 1A: Place potatoes and garlic cloves in a pot of water and bring to a boil. Boil potatoes for 30 minutes or so until soft and mashable. 

Note: Do not add garlic if you don't like garlic mashed potatoes.  

Step 2: Place a pot on your burner and turn the heat up to medium/medium-high. Then add your oil then your vegetables.  Saute until soft and season with salt  and pepper if desired.

Step 3: Add your ground beef and let it brown.

Brown that beef.

Step 4: Add the beef broth and the tomato paste and seasonings (salt, pepper, rosemary, and parsley). I have no idea what this does, but check out the recipe here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Shepherds-Pie-240224

Note: This might be a good time to preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

Step 1B: At this point, the potatoes were mashable. Add the milk, butter, salt and pepper to the potatoes and then, well mash the potatoes.

Step 5: After the broth and tomato paste have simmered for a couple minutes and all the ingredients are getting along, drop in the frozen peas.

Step 6; The peas only need to cook for a minute.  The next step is to scoop the filling into a square baking pan, then top the filling with your mashed potatoes.  Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 35 minutes.  

This is what the final product looks like when all is said and done.  Tasty pie for approximately $2.30 per serving.  

Bonus Teaser:

Is someone dipping his toes in the bread making scene?  Stay tuned.

Sawsheezle does pizza: part 4 - monthly quota met aka Pizza Party!

It's time to make the pizza. The dough is risen and properly aged, the stone is hot, the peel is corn mealed, and I am hungry. Why delay the inevitable? Let's make pizza!

First get your peel and your corn meal. And one hour before that take out your dough and set it out to get up to room temperature. Also, cook any sausage you may want and get that marinara out and heating up on the stove.

The dough will be super tacky now after sitting in the fridge for three days. Recall, this was for optimal fermentation and flavor development. Dust your hands with flour, spread the dough out on the peel and then dust it with some more flour. Beautiful. Now prepare to dock that dough. Ominous pasta ladle!

Post docking attempt.

Now we said we were going to pre-bake this dough and let's do it! 3 minutes in the oven on the pizza stone at 500 deg F. Here are the results.

The crust is already a bit crispy which is exactly what we wanted. We demand crispy crust. You see it has risen some and the docking seems to not have worked at all. The goal was thin crust pizza, but wow what a failure. Still though, it looks good. Let's load this bad boy up.

First sauce.

Now cheese. Then sausage. I used the cheapest "hot" sausage I could find and then added fresh sage to it for an earthier groove. Why do sausage retailers not sell hot sage sausage? Why am I always sageing my own sausage? Why?! Now add pepperoni and onions. I like the "sandwich" pepperoni because it is thin and different. Like Nuprin.

Put this thing in the oven at 500 deg F for about 9.5-10 mins and in the meantime, clean up after yourself you pig and enjoy a cold one. Preferably not one brewed by evil corporate giants like AB-InBev or SabMiller. Just your trustworthy independent PA brewers. In this case Tröegs HopBack Amber Ale. Always drink beer in a chalice man.

After the 9.5-10 minute time window is up (time may vary by elevation and oven so YMMV), take it out and rejoice!

The top looks good, but how crispy is the bottom crust?

If this obscure photo doesn't immediately tell you that the crust is crispy then I do not think I will ever be able to convey that data to you. Anyway, take my word for it...it's good.

Review: The onions are a secret winner here, they provide a much needed sweetness to the whole thing. The sauce is good and after sitting in the fridge, the flavors melded together and a beautiful harmony was reached. The crust is crispy and delicious. I may pre-bake for 4 minutes next time for ultimate crispyness. Also, I need to get a real dough-dough docker. Anyway, this pizza is good and I must stop writing now to eat the rest. So who is going to try and make pizza next?