Moved...

I know, I've disappeared, but Centsible Cooking isn't gone. It's just moved. After thinking hard about it, I realized my real passion is saving money, so I combine Centsible Cooking and In Good Cents back together. Now you can search by ingredients or browse by ingredient.

Check it out!

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Swap It: Sour Cream

Did you realize when you hold a recipe in your hands, many of the ingredients can be swapped without effecting the outcome? Make your recipes healthier by swapping sour cream with plain yogurt!

Try it. Your picky eaters won't notice a difference and your meal will be less fattening.

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Spotlight Recipe: Mix & Match Muffins

Who doesn't love a versatile recipe that you can customize to fit your mood? Good (& Cheap) Eats has a delicious recipe for Mix & Match Muffins that lets you make whatever muffins you desire. I used it to make some Strawberry & Banana Muffins this week with a few leftover strawberries we had in the fridge.

The recipe below is from Good (& Cheap) Eats, while the picture is mine.

Ingredients

3 cups unbleached flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar, brown sugar, or sucanat

1/2 cup oil

1 cup milk

1/2 cup plain yogurt

2 eggs

Mix-ins: 1 teaspoon extract, 1 1/2 cups any combination of fruit*, chopped nuts, chocolate

*Possible fruit to use: mashed bananas, blueberries, finely chopped apples, raspberries, coarsely chopped cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 °. Line muffin tin with papers or spray with nonstick cooking spray. In large mixing bowl, combine, flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. (If preparing as a mix, simply combine all these ingredients in a ziptop bag, label well, mark with the wet ingredients and baking instructions.)

In a separate bowl, combine oil, milk, yogurt, and eggs. Whisk to blend. Add wet ingredients to dry. Fold gently until mostly moistened, but still lumpy. Fold in mix-ins.

For 12 large muffins, fill muffin cups completely, even mounding past their tops. For 18 kid-size muffin, fill almost full. Bake 25 - 35 minutes, depending on how much you fill them.

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Thanksgiving Left Over Series: A Few More Ideas

Happy Thanksgiving!

One of the best ways to use your Thanksgiving leftovers in an Encore Meal is to start with one of your favorite recipes and change it to fit the leftovers you have on hand.

Try to incorporate as much as you can, like your leftover vegetables and more.

Try something like...

:: Turkey & Noodle Soup in a Mash Potato Bowl (from a Chicken & Noodle Soup Recipe)

:: Turkey Salad Sandwich (from a Chicken Salad Sandwich Recipe)

:: Turkey Wraps

:: Turkey Tacos, Enchiladas, Burritos, Nachos, etc...

:: Turkey Vegetable Soup (from a Beef Vegetable Soup recipe)

:: Turkey Meatloaf

:: Turkey Pasta Primavera, Spaghetti, Lasagna, etc..

:: Turkey Kabobs

Also just reorganize what you have on hand to make something new. For example, use your rolls to make turkey and cranberry sandwiches or turkey salad sandwiches.

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Thanksgiving Leftover Series: Sweet Potato Cream Soup

This meal is an encore meal to your Thansgiving dinner!

Ingredients

1 TBSP flour

1 TBSP butter

1 1/2 cup broth (chicken or vegetable)

1 TBSP brown sugar

1 1/2 cup sweet potatoes (cooked)

1/4 tsp ginger (ground)

1/8 tsp cinnamon (ground)

1/8 tsp nutmeg (ground)

1 cup milk

salt and/or pepper (to taste)

In a pot, heat butter and flour over medium heat until blended and melted on medium low heat. Stir continuously. Add broth and brown sugar. Bring to boil. Lower to a simmer and stir in sweet potatoes, ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Remove from stove and puree in a blender or food processor. Return to pot, add milk, and reheat. Season with salt and/or pepper to taste.

This recipe is courtesy of Cooking Live.

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Thanksgiving Baking Day: Dinner Wrap-Up (Chicken & Vegetable Pot Pie)

I'm done! I made it to the bitter end and now I have 3 Gingersnap Pumpkin Pies, 2 Cranberry Layered Cheesecakes, Homemade Whip Cream, and a Chicken & Vegetable Pot Pie (pictured above) for tonight's dinner.

And I also have this...


Which I left out of my baking day, because I can't take credit for it. You see, my there is something wrong with my husband. He doesn't like Pumpkin Pie or Cheesecake! In fact, there isn't a "Thanksgiving Dessert" that he does like. He's a pretty picky dessert eater! I'll pretty much eat anything with sugar in it and some days, I get desperate enough to eat straight sugar. Okay, not really. Well, not unless I'm really, really desperate. Scott, however, requested the pie above bought to you by...

Jell-O! He loves this stuff and it's easy to do, so I whipped it up, so he could have his own special dessert tomorrow. Of course, he's spend all evening trying to convince me to break into it now. I've stayed strong though (and I'm already over-sugared from all those Gingersnaps I ate earlier!)

Back to baking... while my pies were cooling, I made dinner. Before I had Daelan, I made 30 meals to fill my freezer for my "maternity leave". We didn't use them all yet though. I still have a few tucked away. One I had was a Chicken-Biscuit Casserole meal I had altered to fit what I had on hand and the other meals I was making that day.

You see, when doing a huge baking day or freezer cooking day, it helps if you have meals with similar ingredients. That way you can multitask!

I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but instead of following the directions, which were to put it in a casserole dish and top with biscuits, I poured it into my 4th pie crust and topped it with my 5th pie crust! It baked at 350 for about an hour until the crust was golden brown.

For a side, I whipped up some mash potatoes and I mean literally whipped. I used the remaining part of my whipping cream, which not only makes your mash potatoes extremely fattening, but it also makes them absolutely delicious. Of course, because of that whole "extremely fattening" thing, I only make them once in a very blue moon.

I have to tell you, my Chicken and Vegetable Pot Pie was out of this world! And my Cranberry Layered Cheesecakes cooled beautifully. Unfortunately, you don't get to see the finished product today, because I plan to top it with the remaining cranberry sauce and sprinkle it with the leftover cookies right before serving.

And the best part... I was very on top of my "clean as you go" policy today, so I ended with a clean kitchen! My husband is upstairs putting the girls to bed, so we get to enjoy a night of peace and quiet, before the chaos tomorrow.

It's not bad chaos though. It's a blast!

Want to know how this baking day started? Go HERE to get the plan, along with my recipe for the Flaky Pie Crust and Gingersnap cookies. Then, head HERE for my recipe for Cranberry Layered Cheesecake. Next, go HERE to see my Lesson-Of-The-Day. Check HERE To see how to roll out the perfect pie crust! And finish up HERE to see my Gingersnap Pumpkin Pie.

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Thanksgiving Baking Day: Gingersnap Pumpkin Pie

A few days ago, my husband returned from Sam's Club with this... (see picture below)

Knowing how much I love to bake, I guess that 25 lb of flour was his version of flowers. So, this following recipe was inspired by my loving husbands 25 lb bag of flour, since I needed to start using it up and my daughters' Halloween pumpkins, which I pureed to make my own pumpkin.

Pumpkin Pie

This is a standard pumpkin pie recipe:

2 Cups Pumpkin

1 Can Condensed Milk

2 Eggs

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon (My Note: I used Pumpkin Pie Spice)

1/4 tsp Ground Ginger

1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/2 tsp Salt

1 Pie Crust

Preheat your oven to 425.

Mix pumpkin, condensed milk, eggs, spices, and salt in a bowl until smooth.

My Note: I used my daughter's Halloween pumpkin, which isn't as flavorful as a pie pumpkin, but still works. To compensate, I had to add a few extra spices and thicken up the puree.

Pour the pumpkin mixture into your pie crust.

Place in the oven for 15 minutes. If you decide to add the Gingersnap Struesel (below), now would be the time, but it's optional. Then reduce your temperature to 350 and bake for an additional 35-40 minutes, until done. You can tell by sticking a fork or knife in the center. If it comes out clean, it's done!

Gingersnap Streusel

I found this recipe in my Pillsbury Thanksgiving home mailer, which I received a few weeks ago!

1/2 Cup Gingersnap Cookies

2 TBSP Brown Sugar

2 TBSP Flour

2 TBSP Butter

1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans

Mix the first 4 ingredients until well blended. Add pecans and mix with a fork gently. Add to top of your Pumpkin Pie as directed above.

Unfortunately, even with 3 pie crusts and 3 batches of Gingersnap Struesel, I didn't make a dent in my 25 lbs of flour, so I guess I'll be baking more soon!

Every Pumpkin Pie needs whip cream. Personally, I love homemade, but since many prefer Cool Whip, it may be an acquired taste. However, it's VERY simple to whip up at home.

Whip Cream

1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

1/4 Cup Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

Pour Whipping Cream in a bowl and beat until it thickens. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until it forms stiff peaks. Refrigerate until you're ready to serve! And yes, that is my Grandma's Old Trusty Hand Mixer slipped into that picture!

And, of course, the best part of making your own Whip Cream at home is licking the beaters when you're all finished!

Want to know how this baking day started? Go HERE to get the plan, along with my recipe for the Flaky Pie Crust and Gingersnap cookies. Then, head HERE for my recipe for Cranberry Layered Cheesecake. Next, go HERE to see my Lesson-Of-The-Day. And end HERE To see how to roll out the perfect pie crust!

Now, our dinner is done baking, so I'm off to eat. I'll be back to wrap up later!

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Thanksgiving Baking Day: The Perfect Flaky Pie Crust

I'm chugging along still, but I got distracted by another bottle break for my Assistant Chef and the arrival of two new Assistant Chefs.

Pie crusts! You can go HERE to get the recipe for my Flaky Pie Crust. A lot of people don't realize how easy it is to roll your own pie crust out at home. It only has 4 ingredients in it - flour, salt, shortening, & water. Making your own will cost so much less than buying a premade one. Plus, if you are whipping up one, might as well make a few extras to freeze for quiches, pot pies, or another pie down the road.

So, first, when the dough comes out of the refrigerator, it sometimes is crumbly. All you need to do is play with it and knead it a bit to get it to turn into a nice smooth ball. For this job, I hired my two daughters and they loved it. It's just like Play-Doh!



Once you have a nice smooth ball, place it on a floured surface and flatten it slightly with your hand. Remember, if your dough cracks while you are flattening it, to fix it early or it will just get bigger. Once you have a nice flat circle, sprinkle the top with flour and use your rolling pin to roll it out flat. How flat depends on how thick you want your pie crust. I went a overboard today and made mine a bit too flat.



Now this next part is VERY important and should not be skipped. Lay your pie pan on top of your dough to make sure you have a nice edge around it and confirm it will fit in the pan. Why can't you skip this part. Well, to be honest with you, every time I saw my Grandma Eileen in the kitchen baking pies, she always did this. I could tell by looking at it if it would fit or not, but since my Grandma was an amazing cook, I follow her lead and truly believe this is a must-do step in pie making. Plus, it is great idea for your little chefs who may need help figuring out when the crust is big enough to fit your pan.

Now, to transport the crust without breaking it, sprinkle it with a little more flour and roll it around your rolling pin.

Pick the rolling pin up and set it on the edge of your pie pan, then unroll! Wallah... it's perfectly in the pan without breaking at all!

Now, lightly press with your finger tips around the bottom edge, to fit the pie crust down into your pan. Finish it up by pressing along the edges and bottom, until it's snug in the pan.

Cut off any excess crust and decorate the edges. There are so many ways to do this. You can press down with a fork or pinch the edges with your finger (as shown below). It's not necessary, but it makes it a bit prettier.

When i was all done making my 3 Gingersnap Pumpkin Pie crusts and two extras for my Pot Pie for dinner, I had a ball of leftover dough. I bagged it up and stuck it in the freezer to whip up a Quiche sometime soon. It will stay good for about 3 months.

Want to know how this baking day started? Go HERE to get the plan, along with my recipe for the Flaky Pie Crust and Gingersnap cookies. Then, head HERE for my recipe for Cranberry Layered Cheesecake. Next, go HERE to see my Lesson-Of-The-Day. And come back later to see how my Gingersnap Pumpkin Pies turned out and get the recipe!

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Thanksgiving Baking Day: The Lesson of the Day

Well, my Assistant Chef isn't being very helpful. In fact, he passed out after his bottle and is now sleeping peacefully in his bed. So, with my Cranberry Layer Cheesecake baking still, I thought I'd share a lesson I learned the hard way.

A long time ago (12 years ago), when I moved out of my Grandma's house and into my first college dorm room, my Grandma sent with me her well-used hand mixer. Though it works wonderfully, it's not beautiful and high-tech like all the glossy ones I see sitting on the display shelves at stores.

Even though it was still working my Stepmom passed down a newer model hand mixer (pictured) to me that attached to a stand. It was nice, but only lasted about a year before the hand mixer would no longer attach to the stand and the mixers kept falling out of the hand mixer. Finally, I admitted defeat and donated the newer model, after pulling out my Grandma's old hand mixer.

Fast forward to yesterday. I stood in Target. There on the display shelf was a beautiful red Rival hand mixer that was on sale for 75% off. It called to me and I decided with all the pies I'd be whipping up today, I definitely needed a new hand mixer! I deserved it, right? I mean it was on sale, so why not?

I brought it home and tore it open this morning to start baking away. It made it through the Gingersnaps. Then when it came to whipping the cream cheese in my Cranberry Layer Cheesecake everything went downhill. The cream cheese was too thick for my new hand mixer. It stuck, there was a loud pop, and then smoke... and my new hand mixer died a quick death.

Now, it sits on my table with the receipt ready to return and I had to resort to pulling out my Grandma's old hand mixer once again. It whipped through that cream cheese, like it was water. Grandma, have I told you thank you recently for all the wonderful hand-me-downs?

Sigh... so what's the lesson of the day? New DOES NOT always equal better. In fact, I've found a lot of the stuff my Grandma has handed down to me works many times better than the newer models. I guess they just knew how to make quality products back in the day!

Want to find out how this baking day started? Well, go HERE to check out the plan, along with my Gingersnap Cookies and Flakey Pie Crust. Next, head HERE to find out about my Cranberry Layer Cheesecake.

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Thanksgiving Baking Day: Cranberry Layer Cheesecake & My Assistant Chef

My husband took the girls to show them off today, so I'm getting much more done a lot quicker than anticipated! Right now my Cranberry Layer Cheesecake is baking, which I found in an old Betty Crocker Cookbook I had.


Cranberry Layer Cheesecake
1 1/2 Cups Ground Oreo Cookies (or similar cookie) or Graham Crackers
1/4 Cup Butter (melted)
1 1/4 Cup Sugar + 1 Cup Sugar
3 TBSP Cornstarch
1 1/2 Cups Cranberries
3/4 Cup Cranberry Juice
4 Packages Cream Cheese (soften)
4 Eggs
1/2 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream


To make the crust (which I tried to take a picture of, but it kept coming out extremely shiny because of the aluminum pie pan), Mix the crushed cookies or graham crackers with the butter.

My Note: 1/4 cup butter was WAY too much. Next time, I'll add half of that or add it slowly, because I ended up with butter floating on top of the cookies and had to use a paper towel to sop some up.

Preheat your oven to 350!

Press the mixture into your pan. I used the disposable aluminum pans in hopes that someone else might want to keep one (or more) of these pies, so the leftovers wouldn't be at my house calling my name. However, it would have worked much better in a cheesecake pan, because the aluminum pan was too shallow. Bake your pie crust for about 8 minutes, then set aside to cool and reduce your oven temperature to 300.

Next start on your cranberry filling by mixing 1 1/4 cup sugar with the cornstarch, cranberries, and cranberry juice in a sauce pan. Heat on high to a boil, then lower heat to medium and cook stirring often until all the cranberries pop open. This will take about 8 - 1o minutes.

Drop the cranberry mixture in your blender and blend until smooth! Set aside to cool.

Next make your cheesecake by mixing your cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, eggs, and heavy whipping cream. You can also add some grated orange or lemon peel to zest up the taste (about 2-3 tsp should work great).

Now that you have your ingredients whipped up, it's time to put them together. Pour about 1/2 of your cheesecake gently into your pie crust. Using a spoon, drizzle 1/2 of the cranberry filling over the cheesecake. Be careful, you don't want them to mix! And finally, top off with the remaining cheesecake, again carefully, so they don't mix!

My Note: I found that if I worked from the outside in when covering the cranberry filling, it worked better. Starting from the center, pushed the cranberry filling to the outside, leaving a small layer all around the outer edge.

Now, stick your cheesecake in the over to bake for 1 hour and 15-25 minutes. When done, the cheesecake will be set on the outside, but still jiggle in the center.

My Note: If you put a shallow pan 1/2 full of water into the oven on a wrack directly under the cheesecake, it will help it not break so much.

Now, turn off your oven and crack the oven door open with the cheesecake sitting back on the wrack in the oven for about 30 additional minutes. Set aside to cool completely, then refrigerate overnight.

Top with remaining cranberry sauce and I am planning on adding a few more crushed cookies too.

I've already started prepping my Gingersnap Pumpkin Pie, but my Assistant Chef (yes, that's him sitting on my messy desk in his Bumbo helping me blog right now) says it's time for a break. So, I guess we're off for lunch... which for him will be a warm bottle of his way-too-expensive hypoallergenic formula and for me, will probably include a bit too many of those delicious Gingersnap cookies! *blush*

My Note: Yes, I do know the Bumbo seat should not be on the desk but he's sitting right in front of me, because he likes to watch me type. If he falls, he'll fall straight into my lap (and he's not yet wiggly enough to even make it move) and I would NEVER leave him anywhere except on the floor.

Want to know how this Baking Day started? Check it out HERE.

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