Easy Recipe: Sausage Grits Scramble Cup

Who says you have to eat out?

The Resident Dragon has gotten on the home-made fast food bandwagon with his version of a Krystal Scrambler.

The easy directions

He prepares grits according to the package directions.  He uses some of my baked sausage, and scrambles eggs.  Then he layers them in reusable containers (bottom to top):

Grits
Eggs
Sausage
Cheese

Be sure to leave extra room for the breakfast to swell as it warms.  He stores them in the freezer, then pops them in the microwave for 2-5 minutes depending upon how hot you want them, and the power of your microwave.

He added some sausage gravy . . .

The analysis

The Krystal version is about $3.  While I have not calculated the exact savings, consider that grits cost no more than $1 per pound (which is a lot of grits), eggs are about $0.15 each, the sausage about $0.50, and the cheese about $0.50 for an estimated cost of $1.55.

If you don't care for grits, consider substituting an underdone, semi-mashed baked potato.  Bacon or ham could stand-in for the sausage, and you can prepare your eggs any of several ways.

NOTE

Easy, portable, delicious!

Do not waste your hard-earned money on instant grits, or oats, or things like that.  Go real; they really do not take any more time than the instant and the real costs much much less.

The verdict

With a little planning, you can enjoy the convenience of fast foods from your own kitchen while saving your hard-earned pennies!

So, what's cooking in your Savory kitchen?

Nancy

Easy Recipes: Breakfast sandwich and chocolate

Just because the sun is up
does not mean my brain is, too!

I confess to two morning cravings:  something chocolate, and a hot something which contains meat.  Since I have a McDonald's across the street from work, that means a Sausage McMuffin (370 calories) and a Chocolate Chip Frappe (size depending upon the kind of day I'm expecting--760 calories for the large) for a daily cost of about $5.  My pocketbook and my waistline demand that I do something to reduce both cost and calories.

Let me say that I will NOT get up and cook breakfast.  I might warm it up, but even scrambling eggs is too much for my mental capacity at that hour.  So, I'm going back to an old strategy:  home-made fast food.

The sausage muffin is easy enough.  

Baking sausage allows the grease to drain.

I bake Odom's Tennessee Pride mild sausage patties until done, then pop them into the freezer in an appropriate container.  While the cost of making English muffins is minimal, I usually just buy Thomas' English Muffins on sale for about $0.50 each.

In the morning, I pop the muffin in the toaster, and the sausage in the microwave.  Instead of cheese, I add a dollop of home-made preserves (usually peach) to the toasted muffin before wrapping the warm sandwich to eat on the trip to work.

My chocolate fix

Instead of the frappe, I fill my Thermos travel tumbler with Swiss Miss hot chocolate and it stays HOT until mid-morning.

While the cost of the muffin sandwich is about the same, the cost of the drink is the real savings:  $2-$3 per day.  Over the course of a year, that's a savings of about $720 for 20 workdays per month average.

Calorie-wise, the muffin, sausage, and preserves are about 320 calories, and the chocolate is 220 calories.  That's a saving of 590 calories per day or 1.5 hours of weeding!

A savory start to the day!

Saving time, money, and calories is a great start to any day!  Enjoy your favorite fast food flavors without the fast food cost.

What's cooking in your Savory kitchen?

Nancy

Easy New Year Recipe: Cuban Sandwiches with Leftovers!

Happy New Year!

New Year's is a really low-key event in our household.  We no longer have any interest in joining mobs of loud people to ring in the new year, so, usually, it's just a quiet evening at home with family and a few friends and a super simple menu.  After the rich, luscious food and the requisite endless cooking from Thanksgiving through Christmas, New Year's Cuban Sandwiches are a welcome respite for the cook.

Here on the farm, the Resident Dragon usually mans the griddle, taking custom orders from each celebrant.  Options include type of bread/bun, types of leftover meats (usually turkey and ham or pork), and types of cheeses.

New Year's Cubana Sandwiches

• Bun or leftover large roll
• 2 types of leftover meat
• 3 types of sliced cheese
• Favorite mustard
• Favorite pickle

Here's a great opportunity to
enjoy your summer's pickles!

The basic sandwich:  Slice the bun in half length-wise and smear with favorite mustard and apply a pickle.  On top, layer cheese, meat, cheese, meat, cheese, pickle, and bun top smeared with mustard.  Smash until bread is slightly flattened, then grill on both sides until bread is toasted, cheese is melting, and meat is warm.  Slice in half and serve with chips or fries, and your favorite beverage.  The combinations are endless, but here are a few we like:

Bread and butter pickles
add a little sweetness!

• The Resident Dragon:  French roll with spicy brown mustard, dill pickles, turkey, pork shoulder, cheddar, muenster, and swiss.

• The Dragon's Lady:  Onion roll with sweet mustard (recipe below), sweet pickles, turkey, ham, muenster, muenster, and muenster.

Sweet mustard:  To taste, add brown sugar to prepared mustard and allow to blend for 24 hours.

What a tasty way to clean up those leftovers from the old year and begin the new on a creative note!

From our kitchen to yours--

Happy New Year!

Nancy

Shrimp and Grits with a Healthy Twist

Yummy shrimp and grits!

I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for ways to make yummy dishes more healthy.  Here's a great recipe from guest blogger Julia!

Eureka! Fluffy Biscuits!

It only took 45 years of trying!

For some unknown reason, I took on the biscuit challenge this week.  All of my cooking life, my biscuits have been flat and tough.  But this week, after several tries (and realizing my baking powder had gone flat), ta-da!  Success!  Serve warm with just about anything.

Old Favorite With a New Twist

One of my family's favorite comfort foods is broccoli casserole.  It's my husband's specialty and he's forever tinkering with it.  Finally, he's come up with a recipe he actually had me write down.  We hope your family enjoys it as much as we do!

By the way, it freezes beautifully, so we make really big batches to freeze servings for later!

Savory Broccoli Casserole

1 stick of Kroger's Nice & Cheesy (2 pounds)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
6 cups of cooked rice (slightly underdone)
3 cups broccoli pieces
3 boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cubed and marinated in creamy Italian dressing
3 T. butter
3 T. Watkins Chicken Soup & Gravy Mix
1 T. Watkins Garlic & Parmesan Dip Mix
1 can French's Fried Onions

Cook chicken in skillet prepared with about 1 T. olive oil.  Save drippings to add to dish.  If you do not like chunks of broccoli, blend the broccoli and chicken soup until desired texture.  Cube cheese in large casserole dish with broccoli, cream of chicken soup, and butter.  Microwave until melted.  Add chicken and dripping and mix.  Add soup mix and dip mix and stir.  Add rice and stir until it begins to thicken.  Sprinkle onions on top & bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.