RUM-N-NOODLES

Reducing a Sauce      Reducing a sauce is a good cooking skill to have that will come in handy in a variety of different recipes and making your own will help you stick to your budget.  Reducing a sauce intensifies the flavors of of a sauce and thicken it.  Thickening a sauce will help it stick to the food you are serving it on.  Picture it like this, if you put a nice thick spaghetti sauce on spaghetti it sticks to the noodles for a great dish, if you put tomato juice on spaghetti noodles you get bland noodles and a mess.        Reducing a sauce intensifies the flavors to make a great sauce, but can also be a little dangerous.  No, doing it wrong will not cause a zombie apocalypse but it could lead to a dish that you have to toss out and that's not good for your savings.  Be sure to avoid salt as much as possible until the very end, what may seem like a small amount of sauce in the beginning can be over powering in the end dish that is half the volume.        Now

Maple Bacon Monkey Bread      I saw monkey bread in the store the other day and it brought back some great childhood memories.  Weather you grew up calling it monkey bread, pull apart bread or puzzle bread, I can not think of a food that is more fun than monkey bread.  Add in some bacon and pecans to take this fun classic to the next level Ingredients 16 oz cans of jumbo refrigerator biscuits 1/2 stick butter 4 slices bacon 1/2 cup chopped pecans 1/4 cup maple syrup 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup white sugar      Start by cooking up the bacon (if you ask me that's the best way to start any project).  When the bacon is cooked drain it on some paper towels and crumble it into little pieces.  Next grab the butter, brown sugar and syrup and put them in a pot over medium heat, reduce this mixture by 1/2 stirring occasionally.  While the syrup mixture is reducing pop the biscuits and separate them.  Now cut them each into 8 pieces, when you have all the biscu

Drink Your Water      We have all heard we need to drink 8 glasses of water a day.  There are a ton of health benefits from drinking enough water.  The trick to sticking to your budget is drinking the right water.  The cost of bottled water is 300 times the cost of tap water.  That's 300 times not just 300%, that means for every bottle of water you buy you could have 300 bottles of tap water.  That is 37.5 days of water verses bottle.      I know there are reasons people love their bottled water.  The bottles are convenient, but there are really cool bottles for water out there that are convenient and just look better.  Look around a little and I'm sure you can find a bottle with a picture or phrase that fits your personality much better then the water company logo.      Not every community has great tasting tap water.  Not a problem, I use a pitcher with a filter.  I think the pitcher system is much more convenient that bottled water.  You can refill your new stylish

Slow Cooker Pot Roast      Pot Roast is a classic, and my favorite carrots and potatoes are cooked all day in the juices of a pot roast.  This recipe makes its own gravy that has a deep rich flavor you are going to love. And the next day you can laugh at all the people going out to grab a boring expensive burger for lunch while you munch on an amazing roast beef sandwich. Ingredients 3 pound chuck roast 1 table spoon flour 1 tablespoon each salt and pepper 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 3/4 cup of water 3 carrots chopped  3 potatoes chopped 1 package onion soup mix 1 can cream of mushroom soup      Lets start out by putting a generous amount of salt and pepper on the chuck roast.  Next sprinkle the flour over the roast, when the roast is seasoned and floured pat the salt pepper and flour into the meat.      Some people will tell you that you can skip searing the roast before it goes in the slow cooker, they are wrong.  Caramelizing the outside of the roast will

What is the Point      We have been getting a lot of new viewers so I just wanted to let everyone know what my blog is about and what is going on.  I write this to help myself and others save money and work towards their personal goals.  The recipes are a way to save money and still enjoy your meals everyday.  But I think the hardest part of saving for anyone is staying motivated.  To help keep you, and myself, on track I wrote the little blurbs like this.  These are mostly from my personal life, both areas where I see myself slipping and things that I notice that help me keep going.        I think the running total at the end of each recipe is the best motivator.  The running total is based on the savings verses getting a $5.00 value meal.  I use this as a bench mark because it is easy to hit the drive thru and Think that only spending $5.00 is no big deal, but its the little things that add up.  Most people don't go broke in one big chunk it is the little bites out of yo

Find What Makes You Happy      I got thinking about this because a friend from work just retired.  Dale was known for driving the worst junker cars ever, and he was the first one to make jokes about it.  One of his favorite things to do was make up a picnic basket and take his wife to listen to the free classical music concerts in the park.  But he also liked his Crown Royal, which cost a lot more than my miller lite.  So I told him I had a project for him on his last day at work.  I told him to forget about going around and saying goodbye to everyone, and that he needed to park himself at a desk and make a list of everyone that had teased him about his cars.  Then on his first day of retirement call everyone on that list and ask how they liked getting up for work this morning.  Yes I do have an evil streak.      The point is he found what made him happy.  He didn't worry about having the newest most expensive car.  And if the car is the thing that makes you happy then l

Chicken Fried Rice      I don't think many people realize how quick easy and versatile fried rice is.  I will write the recipe as if I was buying the ingredients but more often then not I make fried rice with leftovers i have around or frozen veggies I opened and did not need the entire bag for a meal.        This is another meal that I freeze and use as work lunches.  If you are planning on this going in the freezer leave out the corn, the texture gets a little funny. Ingredients 4 cups cold left over brown rice 2 table spoons oil 2 cloves garlic 1 cup cooked chicken cubed 1 cup frozen peas and carrots 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 tablespoon fish sauce 1/4 teaspoon black pepper      Start by making sure your rice is cold to start.  Then cook up the veggies according to the package.  Now add the oil to the pan and turn the heat to medium.  The cold rice will clump up, so break apart the clumps as the oil heats up.  Add the garlic and the rice t