Frugal Living Today

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons mayo
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

1. Hard boil the eggs (approximately 10 minutes) and set aside until they are cool enough to handle, then peel them.

2. Add eggs to a small bowl and chop until they are very fine. Personally, I use a food processor because I like mine to be smooth and ultra creamy.

3. Add just enough mayo to make the eggs stick together and flavor with salt and pepper to taste.

Michael’s Notes

This is admittedly a basic and very simple egg salad recipe but that is exactly what I intended when I made it. If you prefer a bit more oomph, consider this recipe a base from which you can add your own special touches and personal flair.

It is not recommended that you store egg salad for any longer than a day and always keep it in the fridge. for that reason I scaled this recipe down so that I make only as much as I will be able to use in two days.

To make preparation easier you can hard boil several eggs ahead of time since they will keep in the fridge for several days so long as they remain unpeeled until you want to use them.

I am addicted to bread.

As a result there never seems to be much of a shortage of the stuff around the house.  Every once in a great while though, there are times when I might have some leftover bread, and rather than toss it out to the appreciative local wildlife I strive for ways to make the most use of it for my household first.

Here are a couple of my favorite frugal ideas for leftover bread: Continue Reading »

One undeniable rite of passage for any young southern child is when they eat their first pimento cheese sandwich.

At this crucial point in time one of two things will happen:  either they will screw their face up into a formation best suited for some horror flick or they will fall immediately and deeply in love with one of the most interesting and oft misunderstood of southern delicacies.  There is rarely a person who is indifferent to the stuff.

Pimento cheese has been around since the turn of the century but it reached the peak of its popularity during the Great Depression.

Here now, I will share with you my recipe, only altered slightly from the side of some mayonnaise jar long since forgotten.  My version is considerably less fattening than the original, to be sure.

Michael’s Southern Style Pimento Cheese

• 1 2 ounce jar of pimentos, drained
• 8 ounces low fat extra sharp cheddar cheese, either shredded or chopped
• 1 teaspoon sugar or sugar substitute
• 1/2 cup lite mayo
• 1/4 cup vidalia onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1.  Mix pimentos and cheese together in a mixing bowl.

2.  Add sugar and mayo and mix again.

3.  Add onion and Worcestershire sauce and blend with a mixer at high speed, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure a thorough mix.

4.  Cover and chill in the refrigerator for no less than two hours, then serve your delicious homemade pimento cheese on a sandwich or atop crackers.

if you make it as listed (with reduced fat or lite cheese and mayo), this tasty treat can have as few as 60 calories per 2 tablespoon serving and it is much less expensive than buying the pre-made version at the supermarket!

Though I’ve never been a big fan of the stuff myself, it seems as though the people around me at a barbecue- always seem to ask for Heinz 57 sauce. Since I don’t buy it (why buy something you do not use?), I decided that I had better look around for a good frugal copy that I could make myself for these occasions.

When I found this one I wasn’t sure it would work out until I made a batch and served it to my friends. Not only did they have no idea it wasn’t off the shelf, they devoured the entire bottle!

Homemade Heinz 57 Sauce Recipe

1/4 cup raisin puree*
1 1/3 cup white vinegar
1 cup tomato paste
2/3 cup malt vinegar
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon yellow prepared mustard
2 teaspoons apple juice concentrate
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon turmeric

*1. To make the raisin puree, start by adding 1/4 cup each of raisins and water to your food processor and pureeing them until smooth. Measure 1/4 cup of the mixture into your saucepan.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk it all together until well blended, then bring to a good boil over medium high heat before reducing the heat to low and simmering for about 30 minutes or until the mixture thickens.

3. All to cool, pour into a bottle and refrigerate for a day or so before serving. I usually store it in plastic containers like those you see in seafood restaurants full of cocktail sauce and no one has ever called me on it.

Your friends will thank you, and best of all - you did it yourself!

Do you have a favorite copycat recipe you would like to see included here in a future post? Leave me a comment and tell me what you’ve got. I’m always looking for new ways to act like I know what I’m doing…