Spinach Artichoke Dip

BEST OF THE TASTY CHEAPSKATE

You know how some people don't celebrate Christmas, and everyone who does celebrate Christmas just can't comprehend that (we try, but in our hearts we're really just like, "Huh?").

Well, that's kind of how I am with the Super Bowl. I just wasn't raised with it, okay. And I don't quite get the hoopla. 

Sometimes people will even invite me to their Superbowl parties. And then I always think, "Oh, how nice. I wonder who's playing." And then I think, "Well, it doesn't matter since I basically have no idea who any of those people are anyway." And then I wonder if maybe I should research it or something. I mean, is it rude to attend someone's Superbowl party and be like, "Rah, go faceless men in maroon tights!" Or some such similarly football-educated cheering statement? (Answer: Possibly.)

But then I just bring good food and all is totally well. And the people who eat the food don't even notice that you don't know maroon-tights man's name. And they don't care. Because they're just stuffing their faces and cheering. And if we could all just do more of that in life, then life would probably be a happier place (unless your team loses and then I just try to scooch away as inconspicuously as possible with, hopefully, some uneaten chips and dip). 

So happy Superbowl Sunday and many cheers to whatever men in tights you wish to win!!!

This spinach artichoke dip is the best there is. And I'm kind of old enough now that spinach artichoke chip is just a little, almost, well, retro. You should just embrace that and keep eating it.

Superbowl Sunday aside, we often eat this for dinner with sour dough bread. It's a super quick, somewhat healthy vegetarian thing (so righteous, eating dip for dinner). 

Tips for cheapening: 

1. Buy cream cheese on sale. I almost always buy it when it's $.99. It keeps for many weeks in the refrigerator. You can also freeze it if you're planning to add it to something cooked (the texture changes when frozen, but it gets melty when cooked, so it totally works). 

2. Use frozen spinach. It's cheaper and easier in this recipe

3. Cheese. This is better with decent cheese, but even cheap Parmesan works well, so don't be afraid if you didn't spend a million bucks on cheese. 

Spinach Artichoke Dip

makes one 8x8 inch pan's worth

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes

Cost: $4.20

cream cheese: $1.00, mayo: .10, cheese: 1.00, artichoke hearts: 1.50, spinach: .50, other stuff: .10

Note on spinach: I personally feel that this recipe is better with de-thawed, drained frozen spinach (hurray for the cheaper option). It's already mushy that way and you get a bunch of spinach in that frozen pack. If you're using fresh, cook it just until it wilts and then drain and squeeze the water out before throwing it into the dip. Otherwise, it comes out a little soggy.

Note on cheese: Feel free to mix it up. We've done all Parmesan, a blend of Parmesan, mozzarella, and Romano, a blend of Parmesan and Romano. You do want the harder (stinkier) cheeses to be the bulk of this. Too much mozzarella and it just becomes bland. 

8 oz cream cheese
1/4 C mayo
1 C Parmesan cheese
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped a bit
1 pkg frozen spinach, dethawed with the water squeezed out (or 4 C baby spinach, chopped small or cooked till wilted)
1 clove garlic (or 1/4-1/2 tsp garlic powder in a pinch)
salt and pepper to taste (feel free to taste before cooking--it's still good, not quite transcendent yet, but still good)

Beat cream cheese and mayo. Mix in garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix in cheeses. Mix in artichoke hearts and spinach.

Mix it together well.

Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until the edges are brown and bubbly. 

Serve with crusty bread, crackers, or raw veggies.

Veggie Ranch Pizza

BEST OF THE TASTY CHEAPSKATE

 Somehow I missed posting yesterday. I think it's called: my-kids-were-off-school-for-a-week-and-I-lost-track-of-days-and-things-like-that. Anyway, I suddenly remembered today that I do, in fact, have a food blog and it is, in fact, Tuesday, not Monday. Le sigh.

So I'm rewarding you with my very favorite pizza recipe of all time. It can be started and finished in 40 minutes, even with a homemade dough. And it's comparable to a $5 pizza in price (it can be cheaper or more expensive depending on how many and what toppings you heap on there).

Instead of using a traditional marinara sauce, it uses a mayo ranch sauce that I personally feel goes with whatever vegetables (and meats) you want to heap onto this thing.

Truthfully, once you've got that magical ranch sauce going, you can put almost anything on this and it is divine. Originally, when we began making this we always used chicken. Then we branched out into other meats.

My favorite meats with this pizza: Pepperoni, bacon (oh bacon), chicken, sausage (we've even used polska kielbasa and it was amazing, like the love child of sausage and pepperoni). Or any combination thereof.

My favorite veggies: Olives, spinach, artichokes, thinly sliced (or grated) zucchini, mushrooms, grated carrots, green onions, regular onions (sliced VERY thin).

Favorite cheese: Mozzarella obviously, but on this pizza, it can be delicious combined with cheddar or Parmesan.

Favorite dough: My very favorite is this 2-minute dough. But I don't always have the foresight to make it ahead of time. For a quick dinner-hour dough, try this one.



One more note: Instead of the broccoli listed below, you can use broccoli and cauliflower or just cauliflower. It will be chopped until it is very small--almost crumb-like.

Okay, let's make this thing.

Veggie Ranch Pizza
Makes one jelly roll pan of pizza (yes, that's what we use) or two medium-sized round pizzas
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes-ish
Cost: $5.80
dough: .40, mayo: .40, ranch powder: $1.00 (slightly more expensive if you buy individual packets; we buy the powder), meat: 1.00, broccoli: .50, veggies: .50, cheese: 2.00

Two-minute dough or Right-before-dinner Dough

2/3 C mayonnaise
1 packet Ranch powder (or 3 Tbsp)
1 SMALL head of broccoli (or 1/2 of a large one) chopped into smithereens (which is totally a cooking term; but seriously, you want it chopped until it's crumb-like
1/2 C Meat of your choice (about 1/2 C of chicken or bacon, or a bunch of pepperoni)
1/2-1 C Vegetables of your choice (about 1/2-1 C total)
8-12 oz. (or about 2 C) Mozzarella cheese, or a combination of mozzarella/cheddar/Parmesan

Make you dough. While it rests, combine mayonnaise with Ranch powder.

Spread your dough on a well-greased pan. I love to use olive oil to grease my pans for pizza. And if the dough gets sticky, you can add a little olive oil to your hands to make spreading easy.

Spread the Ranch/mayo on the dough.

Sprinkle the finely-chopped broccoli.

Add vegetables and meat.

Add cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the edges of the cheese are beginning to brown just a bit.

Hot Chocolate: Two Ways

BEST OF THE TASTY CHEAPSKATE

It's hot chocolate season around here. (See picture below.)

My kids have been playing in the snow every day and today we went to enjoy a friend's huge hill. 

So I thought I'd share a few of my favorite hot chocolate recipes. 

The first is the recipe I grew up with my mom making on snow days just like these. It's incredibly easy, fantastically cheap, and so much more delicious than anything you'd get out of a packet. 

The second is a Creamy Milk Chocolate that will cost a little extra. It's high-falutin' like that. But so amazingly creamy and rich that we often have it for dessert. 

Easy, Perfect Homemade Chocolate

Serves 1 (or 2 small mugs) 

Prep time: 3 minutes

Cost: $.20 ($.10-.20/serving)

sugar: .02, cocoa: .03, milk: .15

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp cocoa

1 C milk

Stir sugar and cocoa together in a saucepan and then whisk in milk. Heat, stirring as you do. Don't boil. 

Creamy Milk Chocolate Hot Chocolate

serves 4

Prep time: 4 minutes

Cost: $1.05, or about $.26/serving

Chocolate chips .75, milk: .30

3/4 C milk chocolate chips (preferably something higher quality like Ghiradelli or Guittard)

2 C milk

1/2 tsp vanilla (or 1/4 tsp almond extract)

Melt chocolate chips with a portion of the milk, Gradually whisk in remaining milk, stirring as you do. Whisk until smooth and to the desired heat. Don't boil. 

Chocolate Cupcake Dress with Vanilla Butter Frosting

BEST OF THE TASTY CHEAPSKATE

So I'm more of a cake person than a cupcake person. I like the layers of a cake. I like that all the frosting isn't just piled/glopped/mountained up on top with all that delicate cake being crushed below it. I like the look of a cake, the promise when yo cut into one.

But then, I'm not eight years old.

And I must admit that my layer cakes aren't, um, well, incredibly beautiful. And to make them beautiful would require something called artistic skill, which is a wee tiny bit lacking in my brain.

Enter cupcakes. My daughters really love them. And you can make them absolutely gorgeous without a whole heck of a lot of effort. My own, personal thirteen-year-old designed this one following (loosely) this tutorial.

So, fine, if it's going to be cupcakes, then you should make a really, truly delicious cupcake. And for this part, I've got your back. Have a hop over HERE to see my two favorite chocolate cake recipes gone all cupcake. They are not hugely domed, but for decorating things like these cupcake pull apart cakes, I've found flat to be ideal. I hope yo do too.

And they are just the very best chocolate cake recipes you will find. The end.

For frosting, we used my favorite vanilla butter frosting. You may need to add a bit extra powdered sugar if you are going to make a decorative cake like this cupcake. You can't have the frosting too loose or it won't hold the pretty swirly patterns.

And the best part of this beautiful dress cake (besides the cake, which is amazing beyond amazing; did I mention that)? The cost.
Cupcakes: $1.75
Frosting: $1.90
Candy Pearls: $1.00/color-->$2.00 for us (Yes, you could get your true cheapskate on and skip these, but I didn't because I had an 8-year-old who desperately wanted them)
Total: $5.65
For 24 cupcakes, that means that you're spending about $.23/cupcake. Without the pearls, it only costs $.15/cupcake. *happiness* *diet-wrecking-ness*

[Note: These numbers are for 24 cupcakes. If you follow the recipes (cake and frosting) linked to above, you'll wind up with 36 cupcakes, so you can do math to reduce the recipes. Or do what we did and have 12 extra cupcakes sitting around for you to eat. The cost per cupcake is the same, but you're overall cost comes up to $5.50 for 36 cupcakes, or $7.50 for cupcakes with pearls.]

The Best Beef Stew Ever: aka Beef Burgundy (Minus the Burgundy)--An Alcohol-free Knock-Off

BEST OF THE TASTY CHEAPSKATE

How do I decide what makes the cut for the Best of the Tasty Cheapskate this year? Well, I figure if the title is really long, then I must be on to something good. Wait, no, that's just an unfortunate personality quirk. No, the real way I know: if looking at the pictures of it makes me want to make it again. Right now. Without delay. Then I know I've got a winner.

I've made this a couple of times for our Christmas party and both times people have asked for the recipe.

It was originally supposed to be Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy), minus the, uh, Burgundy (wine). Which, if you think too hard about it (you shouldn't), doesn't really make any sense. But I'm a Mormon and don't keep alcohol in the house, and even though alcohol is supposed to cook off in a stew, I'm just not particularly comfortable buying it. And although I sometimes feel like I'm alone in this little cooking eccentricity, I know I'm not alone in this. A whole slew of religious folks (Mormons, Muslims, certain Christian groups) don't drink wine. And there are others in this world with reason not to have alcohol lying around as well. So for this Non-Burgundy Beef Burgundy recipe, you're welcome. 

And for all the rest of you lushes out there, you're welcome too. Because this stew is FANTASTICALLY, amazingly awesome whether you have strong feelings about booze or not. It's just a really solid recipe that stands strong on its own without the wine.

To all you skeptics, I'd just say don't knock it until you try it.

AND, from a purely cheapskate perspective, wine is a fairly expensive ingredient. By bumping it off your grocery list, we just saved you $10 off this recipe. You're welcome, again.

This stew is slightly fussy for a soup. And you MUST give it time to simmer, or it won't be good. You don't have to DO anything while it simmers, but you do have to plan in the time.

Beef Stew: aka Beef Burgundy (Minus the Burgundy)--An Alcohol-free Knock-Off
Serves: 8-10
Prep time: 20-30 minutes
Cook time: 2 hours
Cost: $7.50 (that's less than $1.00/serving; and it's so divine)
onion: .15, carrots: .40, meat: 4.00, flour: .03, Sprite: .40, red wine vinegar: .02, tomato paste: .25, beef stock: .30 (I use bouillon cubes, which are cheaper than stock in cans), potatoes: .40, mushrooms: 1.00, butter: .05, olive oil: .10, spices (mine are almost free because I have an herb garden, so I'm guessing here and giving dry spice estimates): .40

A few notes: 
-This is great with the bay leaves, thyme, and oregano. But once I totally, completely forgot them and it was still great. So you can consider them optional.
-You'll notice there's a wide range for the beef measurement (1-2 pounds). I've done both and love both. Less is obviously cheaper; we usually do more if we're feeding this to guests.
-You could just dump the mushrooms in and simmer, but I like to give them a quick saute in butter first. Because I'm fancy like that.
-If you are short on time and need a simplification, you can skip the saute of the original onion, carrot, and garlic; and just throw it in with the rest of the carrots later (I think this loses a little flavor, but won't ruin this delicious stew). Or you can cut some time (but dirty another pan) by sauteing them in a separate skillet while the beef cooks in your Dutch oven (I favor this pan-dirtying time-saver).


1 1/2 C diced onion (about 1 onion)
1/2 C diced carrot (about 1 carrot)
1 Tbsp garlic (3-4 cloves)
1-2 pound stew meat (depending on how meaty you want it), cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 C flour
salt and pepper
1 can Sprite or ginger ale, divided (I prefer Sprite)
1 1/2 C grape juice
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1 1/2 C beef stock
1/2 C water
5 bay leaves
10 sprigs thyme (or about 1 tsp dried)
a few shakes of dried oregano
2-3 diced carrots
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 lb mushrooms, halved or sliced (I prefer halves)
butter
olive oil
parsley for garnish if you're taking pictures for a blog or want to impress people, or are just a cool person in general

Heat a Dutch oven (or similar-sized pot) with a bit of olive oil. Add the onion and the 1/2 C of carrots. Saute with salt and pepper for about 5-7 minutes until somewhat softened. Add garlic and cook another minute.

While those veggies are cooking, put salt and pepper on your beef and then toss with 1/4 C flour.

Remove veggies from pot and set aside. Add more olive oil to pot. Put beef on to cook (Note: if you are using 2 pounds, you will need to do this in batches; otherwise, there's just too much meat in the pot). Brown the beef on all sides. It doesn't need to be cooked all the way through. When you're about done, add about half of the can of Sprite to the pot. The carbonation (and maybe the sweetness too) act as a tenderizer for the beef (all acidic foods do this, so here we're kind of making up for some of that wine we're not using).

Take out the beef and set it aside with the vegetables. Add grape juice, red wine vinegar and the rest of the Sprite to the pot. Boil until it reduces somewhat--about 5-10 minutes.

Return beef and veggies to pan. Add tomato paste, beef stock, and water. Add bay leaves, thyme, and oregano (if using).

Simmer. Simmer. Simmer. This is where the magic happens. Allow it to simmer covered for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add remaining carrots (2-3 diced carrots). Simmer for another 20 minutes.

Add diced potatoes (the smaller they're cut, the faster your cook time at this point, so if you're short on time, dice them smaller).

While those are simmering, saute your mushrooms in butter with salt and pepper. This is optional, but so awesome that you really should do it. And they've got to get cooked anyway, so you might as well do it with butter.

When they've released their water and browned somewhat, toss them into the stew and let everything simmer another 10 minutes.

Taste to check seasonings.

Serve with crusty bread and prepare for the best stew of your life.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Natural Hair Products for Winter Hair

Oh, so you're a beauty blogger now, huh?

Um, obs. Did you not see the pictures below?

The truth is that I have a thing for natural beauty products, and I've been looking for a cheap, natural, homemade shampoo for a long time now. I still haven't found it. But I do have a natural cheap solution for the dry scalp and hair that happen at this time of year. Plus, a natural shampoo that smells like gloriousness for you to use after.

First, the best, cheapest, most natural solution for dry scalp and hair that I've found is simple COCONUT OIL (virgin cold-pressed). Warm it just to melting point, run it through your hair (you can do just the ends or the whole thing). Leave it for a couple hours up to a day. Then wash it out thoroughly. It will help with itchy, dry winter scalps as well as dry hair. It won't heal split ends or any such miracle, but it will keep your hair from crumbling to its death in the dry freezing weather that we've had around here lately. It also smells really nice. This picture is after a workout (I'd left the coconut oil in overnight and then worked out) followed by a shower and shampoo with just a quick blow dry. No other styling products or even a decent hairdryer. It still turned out soft. No, I'm not quite ready for my beauty blogging career. I had no straightener, no anti-static something or other, and definitely no filter. Just the YMCA locker room and me:).

Now to get that coconut oil out, I was recently sent a sample of this Tea Tree Oil shampoo and it works great. It also smells, honestly, just so amazing that I can't quite get over it. As far as natural-ness, it is cruelty-free, paraben-free, GMO-free, and gluten-free. It is not quite as natural as other shampoos I've used, so that was kind of a down side for me. But that amazing, refreshing scent!!! And supposedly tea tree oil is a good deterrent for lice and other hair nasties.

You can find it HERE.

Or sign up for their free samples program (which I totally did) HERE.

Announcing the BEST OF THE TASTY CHEAPSKATE!!!

Happy New Year, sweet friends!!! 

I hope you've made your resolutions (or not, if one of your goals is to defy things like that).

Here at the Tasty Cheapskate, I've got a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!! (obviously, since I put it in caps with exclamation points).

Over the last few years, I've had less and less time for this lovely little food blog as my writing career has taken me in some other different directions. (For a taste of that, have a look HERE and HERE.)

Because of that, I've made a decision: Throughout the rest of the year, I will be posting the very best, very cheapest, very tastiest recipes each week on Monday. I'll use this year cataloging what I think are the BEST OF THE TASTY CHEAPSKATE recipes. They'll be the things I make regularly, the things I think will save you some big bucks, and the things that just taste good. I'll be re-photographing ugly pictures as well as updating recipes with all the tweaks, simplifications, and perfectionisms that I've added to them. In addition to Monday recipes, I'll sometimes be posting on Thursday with special posts, articles, tips, book recommendations, and non-food recipes. I hope you enjoy those too.

Then when all the best recipes have been re-posted, The Tasty Cheapskate will offer a cookbook with all those recipes for your to keep and love and give to your friends. This will happen at the end of this year, or the end of next year, depending on how many "best of" recipes I find. And then The Tasty Cheapskate will close it's doors. Not completely, mind you. If I make a fantastic recipe, it will still get posted here. But I won't be promising any kind of regularity.

So, log on, folks (and tell all your friends). Because it's going to be a wonderful, beautiful, tasty, cheap, amazing year!!!

For now, let's get started. Today's recipe is traditional New Year's food called Polska Kielbasa. Why is it traditional? Or considered good luck? Well, a quick internet search revealed that... no one really has any idea at all. Most likely, when we're honest with ourselves, it's because cured, salted pork and pickled cabbage were available at one of the coldest points in the year (tradition). And people who had them felt fortunate (luck).

And you are lucky. Because this is one of the easiest recipes on the planet (seriously, it's right up there with "boiled water" in the difficulty department). It has two ingredients (one of them is even a vegetable). It takes less than 10 minutes to prepare. And the kielbasa has a salty, sweetness to it when cooked that combines with the punchy sauerkraut to hit all the right flavor points for driving away winter blues. So you're welcome.

Polska Kielbasa
Serves 4 (if you've got crusty bread on the side; otherwise it serves 2-3)
Prep time: 1 minute
Cook time: 7-10 minutes
Cost: $2.50 (about $.67 per serving)
kielbasa: 2.00, sauerkraut: .50

1 package Polska Kielbasa sausage, cut into "coins"
1 15-oz can sauerkraut, mostly drained

Cut the kielbasa and cook on a skillet at just over medium heat until it starts to brown and get some color and caramelization.

Add the sauerkraut and cook until it's hot.

Serve. It's not the prettiest thing on earth, but that sweet, sour, savory thing is really rocking in this food.