Fried Chicken and Cheesesteaks

Preheat oven to about 375. Place in a roasting pan: 3 squash, cut in half with seeds removed (I used two butternet and 1 acorn squash), cloves from 1 head of garlic, peeled Roast until the squash flesh is tender - test by stabbing with the tines of a fork. To avoid shreiks of burning flesh (YOUR burning flesh), allow to cool about an hour before peeling. Set aside cooked, peeled squash. Chop 1 large onion or a handful of shallots. (onions will suffice if you didn't get shallots from a CSA share) Sautee in a large soup pot with a few tablespoons of butter. Add about 1/2 pound of shredded carrot, and a few stalks of chopped celery. If you did NOT add garlic to the roasting squash, add some minced garlic now. Add chicken broth or stock - about 4 cans/8 cups. (tip: for a "hurry up" version of this soup, you could also add canned pumpkin - obviously the unsweetened variety - instead of roasting whole squash) Grate 1 large piece of fresh ginger (2 or 3 inches square). Retai...

Someone asked me recently if I could do a meal in twenty or thirty minutes. So I decided to set the timer and see if I could! Ingredients: 1 onion 2 bell peppers 1 bag (16 oz.) frozen turkey meatballs 3 large tomatoes handful of fresh basil salt, pepper oregano, garlic, thyme 2 rolls, or 4 slices of toast First I set the timer: Then I started the pot on the stove, and added some olive oil. I peeled an onion, chopped it in half, and sliced the halves into slices: Into the pot went the slices. Then I roughly sliced the bell peppers: Meanwhile, the meatballs went into a bowl and into the microwave. (just to warm - these were fully cooked ones. I think these came from Aldi. Other stores carry similar products) Stir the onion and peppers, and season with salt and pepper. Then chop the tomatoes: Add the tomatoes to the pot, along with about 2 teaspoons of oregano, 1/2 teaspoon of thyme, and a few cloves of garlic (or the frozen or dried equivilant). I cut the meatballs in half. Then add them...

A friend wrote me a note a few days ago and suggested I do some posts on low budget meals. Which I think is a great idea. Except that I don't know what is on sale in your neck of the woods today, or what your neighbor is growing too much of .... so instead perhaps a few tips on how I maximize my food dollars. I'm not promising all of these will work for you, but perhaps a few will. Most of what I make is "budget" food - the french bread pizzas were because I had a coupon for free French bread. All the zucchini recently has been because of gifts of zucchini or zucchini included in my CSA share. Pretty soon there will be a lot of tomato recipes as the vines outside begin to give me ripe fruit. The steak I cooked on the grill was on sale and had a $3 off coupon attached to it beyond the sale price. Chili and other bean based meals are almost always a bargain, as are egg salads or chicken salad when you get the chicken for $2 a pound. Fruits and Veggies: Free is always ch...