Not very juicy.

A look into my pantry may not be very juicy, but it might be a good starting point for someone who wants to stop eating out, or for someone that wants to be able to prepare a quality meal on a whim.

Budget fabulous for me doesn’t mean eating uninspiring food. It means cooking and preparing great food in a convenient way, so that I don’t run out to McDonalds and spend $15 merely for the sake of convenience. It means eating well at home, because that is almost always cheaper than eating out. Eating out is then reserved for special occasions or vacation. Vacations are afforded because we hardly eat out!

Being prepared is what keeps money in the pocket.

What I always have on hand:

Good quality olive oil for drizzling

Less quality olive oil for cooking

Balsamic Vinegar

Sherry Cooking wine

Cheap red and white wine for cooking

Garlic, Basil, Cilantro fresh, frozen in cubes, or paste

Jars/Cans of sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, roasted red pepper, olive tapenade, pesto, tuna fish, cannelli beans

Lipton or Knorr soup and dip mixes.

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, pasta

Sour cream-it can be frozen

Frozen Pizza Dough

One quality cheese—whatever suits my fancy for the week

Now, I am no expert. I am not here to make my list "the list". I think if we each are mindful to have our own list of must-haves in the pantry, we will always be ready to whip something up instead of dialing Pizza Hut for the umpteenth time. Find out what flavors you love and find ways to make it happen last minute!

Sure, my list could consist of cheaper things like Ramen noodles, and Rice-A-Roni, but I need to be realistic. If that is what my pantry consisted of, then I would certainly be tempted to eat out a lot more. I have some pricey ingredients, but I also balance it out by buying anything generic, cheap, or on sale that I can. A few quality ingredients make up for the cheapness of everything else. When I have some quality items on hand, I can always find a way to conjur up something tasty.

Chicken can sometimes taste blah if you don’t marinate it for a little while. One fast meal, no marinatin' required: French onion soup mix + sun-dried tomatoes + sherry cooking wine + chicken = instant tasty dinner. Or try chicken + white wine + butter + artichokes + parmesan cheese, always a hit. Bake at a high temp until done. Sorry I can't be more specific, but that's what happens when I wing it.

Whenever I am at a loss for a quick meal, I can always defrost a bag of pizza dough, and top it with jarred pesto, artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes. Try tuna mixed with canelli beans, sun-dried toms, olive oil, and pasta.

Curd this be love?

I have found my true love. It is something that I keep in my bag of tricks. My Nana used to slather English Muffins with the most perfect Lemon Curd. In the states, Lemon Curd flies under the radar. It is usually in the jam section. It runs about $3.00 a jar, but it holds up in the fridge forever.

If you don’t know what it is, I am so sorry. It is a creamy, buttery lemon spread made of eggs, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and unsalted butter. It is perfect for scones, blueberry muffins, and any breakfast goody of the like. That use is not creative, but still heavenly. Where it lends itself as a trick, is in the more unexpected dessert category. Whenever I make a dessert and someone asks me: "This tastes wonderful, what's in it?" The answer is almost always "Lemon Curd".

Warm it up and drizzle it on vanilla ice cream with fresh blueberries, blackberries, or raspberries. Any time I chop berries for dessert or waffle purposes, I always mix with a little curd. The sweet and tart citrus give berries such a great little kick. Drizzle on trifle when layering—this rounds out the flavor wonderfully. Lastly, it is a wonderful middle layer topping when making a coconut cake, or even a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Delicate lemon flavor is a wonderful compliment to chocolate frosting.

The best trick of all is to eat it by the spoonful!

Yummy Stuffed Portobellos

Get your hands on:

4 portobello mushroom caps

4 slices provolone cheese

1 pound fresh asparagus

2 vine-ripe tomatoes

1 vidallia or sweet onion

½ cup shredded parmesan. Not in the shaker container, but the good stuff.

½ cup Italian Bread Crumbs

Garlic- paste, frozen or freshly minced. Amount to taste.

Basil- paste, frozen or freshly minced. Amount to taste.

Always, always freshly and coarsely ground salt and pepper

Balsamic vinegar

Olive Oil

Heat the oven to 425 degrees, and line a cookie sheet with foil. Chop asparagus in 1 inch pieces, discard tough ends. Chop onion and toms into common-sense sized pieces. Saute onion for few minutes in oil. Then add asparagus, chopped tomato, garlic, basil, salt and pep and olive oil until tender and tomatoes are dried out. Turn off heat and add bread crumbs and half the parmesan.

Meanwhile, remove stems from mushrooms, rinse well and pat dry. Rub top of cap with olive oil, then put top down, gill side up on cookie sheet. Generously drizzle caps with balsamic, salt and pep. Top each cap with slice of provolone, then stuff with asparagus mixture. Bake 15 minutes. Top with remaining parmesan and bake a few more minutes.

Ode to Cilantro

I heart cilantro. Actually, I heart fresh cilantro and fresh basil. Have you ever gotten one of those cute window sill herb gardens as a gift? You picture yourself with Martha Stewart’s face super imposed on yours as you snip fresh herbs from your sill every night? Or not. If don’t want to wait that long for your Chia Herb Pet to sprout or if you don’t have Martha’s skills, no worries! A fresh bunch of cilantro is about $1.50 at my grocer. I rinse a little snip of it at a time, and put it in a cute jar on my counter so that I am reminded to use it. The rest goes in the fridge. If it all went in the fridge, I would forget to use it. The key is accessibility and visibility.

A fresh bunch of basil is $3.00. A gigantic, fragrant basil plant from Trader Joe’s is also $3.00. It provides enough basil to last a month, and you don’t have to worry about keeping it alive. Water it when you feel bad for it, and just pluck, pluck, pluck those sweet leaves until your heart is content, or until the poor guy is dead. Then you just buy a new one.

Fresh basil in salad, on pasta, and even in drinks just makes me feel so charming. I throw cilantro in my store bought salsa, on salads, sandwiches, and guacamole.

One of my favorite uses for cilantro: Mix a bunch of it with sour cream, freshly squeezed lime, freshly ground and course salt & pepper. Top sweet potatoes with it, dip sweet potato fries in it. Put it next to the salsa and tortilla chips.

One of my favorite savory breakfasts and uses for basil: Slice ripe tomato, top with freshly ground salt/pep, olive oil. Let sit while toasting English muffin. Spread ricotta cheese, top with tomatoes and chopped basil. More olive oil, salt and pep.

The other option: Trader Joe’s sells frozen cubes of garlic, basil, and cilantro. If you can’t grow or freeze it on your own, theirs is wonderful! I buy that, or herb paste. I never use powdery dry stuff if I can help it.

I Double Dare You To Freeze It

I am a cheapie, but I love to eat well. I hate to cook on work nights, and I only eat free-range, humanely raised meat. This meat is expensive, but it is my only alternative to becoming a vegetarian again. The expense motivates me to use up every last morsel. I can usually bargain a big freezer pack of meat with my wonderful butcher. To offset the cost, I always buy generic cereal, ketchup, butter, bbq sauce, frozen veggies, frozen fries, yadda, yadda, yadda...you get the idea.

The whole meat pack goes into the freezer, it is cooked meal by meal, then the left over meal goes back into the freezer! I experiment with freezing anything and everything.

If something is not appealing as an immediate left-over, it goes into a plastic baggy. I suck the air out, seal it up, and label the contents and date with a sharpie. I decided that I have nothing to lose in at least trying to freeze everything. Any time I make lasagna, I freeze half of it. I freeze any left over sauce, meat, and pasta. Whenever I am cooking a few chicken breasts, whatever is left gets chopped into stir-fry sized pieces and frozen. I hate, hate, hate boiling pasta. I always drizzle left-over plain pasta with olive oil, and salt, pepper, garlic and basil, and then freeze.

The wonderful thing that happens when I come stumbling home from a long day: I can thaw a bag of cooked, sliced chicken, and throw on a yummy salad. I find the frozen bags of sauce, cooked pasta, and cooked meat—hello dinner, and I don’t even have to boil the dehrn pasta! I can just nuke it all! I made yummy turkey meat loafs, and no expectations of how they might taste after frozen and thawed. Wonderful! I have found that frozen meat which then gets cooked and re-frozen, tastes just fine!

Even when you pull it out of the freezer, and it looks non-appetizing, or like it is covered in ice, I dare you to thaw and warm it up anyway. Some frozens that have been met with my most harsh skepticism, end up tasting the best after carefully re-heating them.

One thing to try when defrosting in the micro: Moisten a paper towel and lay it on top of what you are thawing. Also, thaw it slowly, checking often so that it is not overly nuked.

Some other things that freeze well: Milk, bread, cheese, fresh fruit, cooked meats, cold cuts, most dips, soups, and herbs! Left over fresh herbs: chop, blend with olive oil and freeze in cube trays. Put frozen cubes in plastic bag, pop directly into pan or pot when cooking.

Freak Chance Bargain

Ever been to a store and come across a crazy bargain by freak chance? Something that you need, but weren't necessarily looking for? Something that was just meant for you to find?

I love that. It makes me so very happy.

Check out my newest freak chance bargain. For real, what are the chances that I find MY house number, in the chaotic bargain bin at the DIY store, in a style I actually like, for 90% off? I'd say the chances are pretty slim. No matter, it was most definitely there. And I bought it with my pocket change.

Following the Rules = Sweet Bargains

I'm going to start this glorious blog with a glorious post about a glorious bargain. A bargain to the tune of 82.5% off.

I've been dying for some new furniture lately; my house's renovations are almost done, so it's time for me to nest. We've been living with hand-me-down sofas since we moved in (3 years ago), and they are, for lack of a better word, buttugly. I know, I know, 'buttugly' probably isn't a word, but for the previous sentence's sake, we'll leave it. If it's not one word, it should be.

Here are our old sofas. They're so ugly, we only had one eBay bid for £25. Aw, the poor sofas. They've had a nice life; they'dun us good. But, it's time to move on to better, more stylish, less colour-of-lox-and-smells-like-wee types of things.

Being the budget-conscious gal that I am, I did research. I looked into sofa brands, leather vs fabric, corner sofas vs two separates, the whole deal. After many sessions of 'productive conversation' with my hubby, we finally decided on a dark brown leather corner beast. Something with shape and style, but comfortable. And dark brown wooden legs. And attached cushions, that seats 6 comfortably or 8 with a squeeze. Oh, and it needed to be cheap. Used would be fine, as long as it was perfect. Too much to ask?

Starting out on my bargain-hunting adventure, I practiced

Buying-Second-Hand Rule Number One: PATIENCE

My three most favouritest sites for second-hand stuff (in England) are eBay, Gumtree, and Yakaz. I check every morning and every evening for new listings, and sometimes on a particularly obsessive day, I check another 4 or 5 times. If you're serious about good deals, you have to do the same. If you're really serious about good deals, you have to wait. And wait. And wait.

We looked for weeks, and our ideal sofas were selling for £550, £650, £700 on eBay, and nothing was popping up on Gumtree or Yakaz. Well, I shouldn't say nothing, but nothing that met our stringent requirements. We considered going for one of the £650 deals, but then we remembered

Buying-Second-Hand Rule Number Two: STICK TO YOUR BUDGET

Our budget was maxed out at £450, not a penny more.

I waited, I watched, I searched. I considered buying new, but no, anything brand spankin' new for £450 was bound to be poop. I also considered buying something that wasn't quite up to my ridiculous standards, but that would violate

Buying-Second-Hand Rule Number Three: DON'T SETTLE

Ok, I'll kill the suspense and get to the point. One fine afternoon, on a particularly obsessive second-hand-site-checkin' day, I moseyed my way onto eBay and searched the new listings for corner leather sofas.

Lo-and-behold, there she was. Listed only 2 hours earlier, our perfect sofa was for sale in Buckinghamshire. A dark brown leather corner beast, with shape and style. Attached cushions, sat up to 8, and even had dark brown wooden legs! My eyes spotted the "Buy It Now" logo, which usually means the seller wants way too much, but what is this? Do my eyes behold a "Buy It Now" price of £350? Oh yes, they do. Hubby and I were up in Bucks 4 days later, picking up our £2,000 leather sofa for £350.

Yep, that's 82.5% off. I know it's "used", but seriously, you come over and show me its used-ness. It's utter perfection to me.

Just goes to show - if you following the 3 rules of buying second-hand, you're bound to get some sweet bargains.