Posts Tagged ‘meal plan’

Mr.CBB’s Creamy Ham And Cheese Macaroni Bake

Posted: April 7, 2013 in Mr.CBB's Frugal Kitchen
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Creamy Ham and Cheese Macaroni Bake

If you are looking for some ooey, gooey comfort food this creamy ham and cheese macaroni bake is the ultimate easy meal for you. One of the things I enjoy about this mac and cheese is it’s loaded with baked ham pieces but it also has a few different types of cheeses inside.

I finished this recipe off with buttered cheese seasoned breadcrumbs for that extra crunchy texture on top. Don’t tuck in right away though when it comes out of the oven. If you give it some time to rest and come together like you would a lasagna or shepherd’s pie it will be easier to serve.

I’m sure there is no difference, but if you want to think of this as a macaroni and cheese with ham casserole then this is what it is.  It’s something I’ve created with leftover baked ham and a recipe you should tuck away for when the time comes that you have ham you want to use up.

I’ve officially made a “Casa-Roll-Eh” and my fans know that I always joke about how many casseroles I say I’ve come across since moving to Canada.

Light or Low-Fat Mac And Cheese 

Mac and Cheese in my opinion is meant to be a naughty meal that you enjoy once in a while. Although, if you want to enjoy it a bit more than once in a while than you can lighten the fat content by using just milk and low-fat cheeses or less cheese.

I find using a higher quality cheese with lots of flavour even if it does cost a bit more goes a long way for flavouring a meal. If you use a less quality cheese you will have to add more for flavour which means potentially more fat. As much as I’d like to have expensive cheeses around though it’s not always part of my grocery budget so use what you have on hand. You can also eliminate the topping or add less topping.

What is A Roux?

I’ve been making cheese sauces for years now as It’s another one of those recipes that I learned in our family kitchen when I was younger. Making this macaroni and cheese is pretty simple, starting with a roux and then carefully adding in your egg, spices , cheese and mixing until you have a cheesy sauce. I added the egg for a deep richness but if you want to cut that out it would work just as well and again cut down on some of the fat.

The history of sauces is quite fascinating although I have yet to try them all it’s certainly something I aim to put on my cooking bucket list. A roux, also known as a rue or panada is simply a flour and a fat and when combined becomes a thickening agent for sauces. You can also use it to thicken up soups, stews and gravies and really is so easy to make so don’t be afraid of the fancy names.

A classic cheese sauce uses a roux as would a béchamel sauce which is a white sauce I sometimes substitute or add to a lasagna instead of the classic red pasta sauce. There are also many Classic French sauces as well as espagnole sauce and veloute sauces that start with a roux and have graced family meals and restaurant menus across the nation.

Creamy Ham and Cheese Macaroni Bake In Baking Dish

What Makes The Macaroni and Cheese So Creamy?

Good question, I added a few good quality cheeses such as provolone, old cheddar and a Mexican Cheddar to this recipe mainly because I didn’t want this to be the classic macaroni and cheese. I wanted it to be a mac and cheese that your guests would say, “wow, that has some flavour”, or “that’s a different type of macaroni and cheese bake than I’m used to”.

I also added cream and milk which gives it that extra creamy texture. If you don’t fancy onions or you have a picky eater although I love the flavour it creates you can leave it out or cut it up very small so the kids or guests won’t notice it.

Better yet, I would love to hear your guests say, no more Kraft Dinner for me, this is my new go to, comfort food for a quick meal any day of the week. I also added a mix of cream and milk to this recipe to give it that extra creaminess that any mac and cheese should have. Make sure not to overcook your pasta al dente is the way to go, just cooked but not mushy otherwise you will have mushy mac and cheese.

Kids Love Macaroni and Cheese

This is also a meal that you can involve your kids with or teach your child to create memories so they too can go on to share this ham and cheese macaroni bake with their family. Teaching your children how to cook and showing them how you can take leftover ham from Easter, Christmas or any other meal to re-create something new rather than letting it waste is a smart lesson to teach.

If you have kids who are off to College or University who will be eating on a budget (most are) take some time out to teach them how to make this go-to recipe for the student menu plan. Showing your children the basics about creating a student budget to manage their money right up to creating a meal plans and how to grocery shop will help lessen the fear when moving out on their own. They can impress their friends when they show off their culinary skills in the dorm or student housing kitchen when it’s their turn to cook a fast dinner that hits the spot.

It really is that simple to make and similar to my easy cauliflower cheese bake popular back home in the UK with my family and which I made last year to share on the blog. Buying convenience foods in the box are what we are trying to get away from when cooking at home is not as hard as people think it is.

As long as you meal plan and you know all the ingredients you need, get them ready and set aside some time to make the meal, trust me you won’t want to be wasting your money on mac and cheese in the box when your family will rave about this signature dish at every meal.

Mac And Cheese Please!

When party planning on a budget this is also a frugal pot-luck meal that you can bring to a dinner party, work party, backyard barbeque party, baby shower, wedding shower, birthdays (the kids would love this). All you would need to do is warm the macaroni and cheese with ham in an oven for 15-20 minutes if it’s had time to cool just so you can heat it through.

There are so many reasons to make this recipe and no reasons not to unless you don’t like cheese but then why would you be reading this recipe in the first place.

Get ready for a cheesy recipe stuffed with ham and topped with fresh breadcrumbs that’s going to knock your apron off. Get all your ingredients ready on the counter for this recipe as it happens fast and you don’t want to be running around your kitchen measuring and doing prep work at the same time.

Ham and Cheese Macaroni Bake

Ham and Cheese Macaroni Bake
  • Yield: Lots … Should feed at least 6-8 hungry people
  • Cook Time- 30-35 minutes
  • Prep Time- 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 cups of cubed ham (bite size pieces)
  • 1 egg in a bowl mixed
  • 2 cups of 2% Milk
  • 2 cups of Half and Half Cream
  • 2 tablespoons of Dry Mustard
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 450 g or 1lb elbow macaroni (or small pasta of your choice)
  • 4 tablespoons of butter
  • 4 tablespoons of flour
  • 1 white onion minced
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon dry chives
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
  • 1 cup of grated Mexican Cheddar
  • 1.5  cups of old cheddar
  • 1  cup of grated provolone

Topping

  • 4-5 tablespoons of melted butter
  • 1 cup of seasoned dry or homemade bread crumbs
  • 1/4 cup of freshly grated Parmigiano cheese
  • 1/4 cup grated mozzarella (optional)

Homemade Cheese Sauce

Preparation

  • Get all your ingredients out ready as this recipe will happen fast
  • In a large post of salted boiling water add your elbow pasta and cook 5-7 minutes or until cooked al dente.
  • Pour macaroni into your strainer and then rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. You don’t want the pasta to be hot when you mix it later on.
  • Mince up your onion and set aside in a bowl
  • Chop up your baked ham into bite size pieces and set aside in a bowl
  • Mix your egg slightly and set aside in a bowl
  • In a medium sauce pan melt 4 tablespoons of butter then add in your flour to make a roux, mix this continuously for about 4 minutes until combined with no lumps  on medium heat. Do not let it burn
  • Add in your cream slowly and mix to combine, then add in your milk, paprika, dry chives, dry mustard, nutmeg, stir and let simmer for about 7-10 minutes.
  • In the bowl with your egg, temper the egg with a bit of the sauce and mix it fast, I keep adding a little bit of the hot sauce into the egg until the egg is up to temperature then I pour the entire egg mix into the pot and mix. If you add the egg straight into the pot it will just cook your egg and ruin the sauce, so temper it first.
  • Add in all your cheeses one by one and mix to combine each cheese until the sauce is creamy
  • Add salt and pepper to taste while you keep stirring
  • The sauce is ready when it is thick and the taste is good for you.
  • Add in your 3 cups of baked ham and mix
  • Pour your pasta into the baking dish then slowly fold in the cheese and ham sauce
  • You can also pour the pasta into your cheese sauce in the pot (whatever is easiest for you)
  • Once it’s all combined in the baking dish it’s time to put a topping on it
  • Melt 4 tablespoons of butter then mix in your breadcrumbs and grated cheese. They will be wet and that is what you want. Spoon bits of the breadcrumbs around the top of the ham and cheese bake so it’s covered in most spots.
  • Top this with any leftover cheese bits and the optional mozzarella for an extra gooey topping!
  • Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30-35 minutes or until cooked through and the topping is browned.
  • Enjoy!

Question: How do you like your mac and cheese?

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Let Your Coupons Expire And Save Money!

Posted: March 21, 2013 in Canadian Coupons 101
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Coupon Binder

I know it sounds strange that I’m saying to let your coupons expire and save money but the reality is for some people, they can’t let them expire. The coupon binder seems to be a fixture in most grocery carts (British: shopping trolley) these days and if you don’t believe me have a gander inside other people’s carts next time you shop.

I’m not saying it’s a negative, but we stopped bringing our binder because we would overspend on the odd occasion while shopping. Now we leave the coupon binder at home or in the car and only take out the coupons we need for that shop. There’s not many times we have the heart pumping “start the car” moments anymore and we’re happy with that.

What We’ve Learned 

If you follow Canadian Budget Binder you know that I started The Grocery Game Challenge  (GGC) back in early 2012 with much success over the past year. The birth of the GGC was because my wife and I were spending far too much money on groceries for 2 people. We thought we were doing better than our friends saving money using coupons and for the most part we were saving lots of money. I don’t remember the exact number off-hand but it was over $5000 in coupons that we used in one year. That was money we didn’t have to spend out-of-pocket to pay for items we “thought we needed”.

That’s right we came to the realization that we didn’t need all the products we were buying. We were so engrossed in the entire game of couponing that we forgot about the main goal and that was the budget. We also lost sight of our path towards debt freedom which consisted of becoming mortgage free and potentially an early retirement.

Clearly you can see how wrapped up some people can get in couponing by watching that Extreme Couponing television program in the USA. Although we can’t go to the extremes like our North American neighbours we can still spend more than we anticipated even if we are saving money using coupons. A couple of weeks ago I read a blog post from my friend Mandy the Money Master Mom Blogger about “why I hate coupons”.

It’s not as bad as it sounds really but what she did was explain her reasoning about why she hated coupons. It made sense to me because we’ve experienced the turbulence of how perceived savings can halt the progress of our overall goals. Mandy brought up a good point in her post,“Most coupons do not help you value your spending. Instead they lure you into a deal to buy a product you weren’t going to buy before you had the coupon”. 

She cites the Hamburger Helper with the Save $3.00 on beef coupon but the catch was you needed to buy another box of Hamburger Helper to get the coupon savings. She explains it well with a mathematical breakdown of the expenses. Don’t think the company doesn’t know what they are doing, they are winning in most cases. We’ve been stung many times but are smarter now with our money, or at least we are trying to make positive changes. What’s in these boxes and what people spend on them cost peanuts to make homemade and they are making a mint off of consumers. That’s the price consumers pay for convenience foods without realizing it.

Buying Too Much 

I’m not kidding when I say that we have roughly 10 boxes of cereal on the shelf that will end up in the garbage because we bought too many boxes. We had a coupon and we did get a great deal but simply could not eat it fast enough. By the time we noticed it was too late to donate to the food-bank. Sure it sounds great that we would donate and we have but we want it to be because we went out and stocked up on a few items and brought them directly to the food-bank, not because they were out of date.

If you have to go through your pantry to find items that are near expiry to donate that means you are buying too much food. This is exactly why I started the grocery game to help us and others who do use coupons and sift through the flyer inserts for deals to stick to a grocery budget. We hardly if ever stock up on food items unless it’s something we know we will use such as dry beans, tomato paste, tuna, milk, pasta etc.

Mandy takes it one step further and blogs about “why I love coupons”  and how they work for her family. You can clearly read that the only coupons she values are the ones that actually save money for her family and she can combine with in-store sales. If you’re getting to the stage where you’ve actually started throwing stuff in the garbage, you bought too much. How much did those coupons really save you? It’s better to stock up on items that have no expiry or a long expiry such as cleaning products, toilet roll, shampoo etc.

Watching Coupons Expire

If you follow my Facebook page you know that I enjoy communicating with the fans and listening to what they have to say. It was just the other night when Katrina Bearinger said something that had me thinking. She said, “I’m also getting better at watching coupons expire” and that was money to my ears. As a society we are lured in by coupons, sale signs, discounts, buy one get one free perks and for what reason? Because they know it works! The marketing companies know exactly how to target products they want you to buy. They know we thrive on these deals and it psychologically gets the juices flowing in our brains. All we have to do is look at all the boxing day line ups every year after Christmas. The general public enjoys the thrill of saving money, but do you really need it?

We’ve Changed 

In order for us to stop spending so much money even if we are using coupons is to plan and stick to the grocery budget. We don’t need to get every coupon that is available to us and use them. That is not what coupons are all about and many of us miss the mark and rush out before a coupon expires just to buy something. We tell ourselves instead of $8.00 it will cost $3.00 and we  ”might need it” down the road. That’s what we used to tell ourselves as well but have since gotten smart about using coupons to our advantage.

Using Your Coupon Savings

If you take the money you save from using coupons and put it towards paying down debt that makes even more sense. We track all the coupons we used in our budget spreadsheet so we know exactly how much money we have saved. Spending your entire grocery budget every single month just because you think you have to is not necessary, use the savings or extra money in your grocery budget to pay down debts if you have any.If you notice that you don’t really need to spend $400 a month on groceries then lower you grocery budget and put that extra money towards another category in your budget. You could also put the savings away for another day or for a purchase you wouldn’t normally make, such as a weekend away. That’s true savings after the fact.

It’s Only A Bargain If You Need It

My friend Amanda at T-shirts and Twine says it best “it’s only a bargain if you need it” and goes on to give us some tips. The best one I thought is if you find a bargain that is not on your grocery list to switch it out for something else. She also says to avoid the clearance aisle as much as possible but I don’t know if we could do that.

We do find some great deals especially those pink sticker deals although I understand her reasoning. If we didn’t have the clearance items on our list we obviously didn’t need them in the first place. That’s true for some items but for others that we may be able to use we could classify them as a ”need” in our grocery budget.

The key point to remember here is we need to 1- either make sure we don’t go over budget for the month or 2- put something back on the shelf to stick to the grocery list. Carrying cash is a great idea if that helps to control overspending. If you only have $40 cash in your pocket than that’s all you have to spend and there’s nothing you can do about.  It’s always nice to read what other’s do to save money.

What the Fans Say ( I made slight edits as needed)

Katrina B.

I’m finding that I take inventory of everything in my pantry then plan my meals based on what’s already here. I sometimes ask myself why I bought something when I’m putting away the groceries in hopes of trying to stop both food and money waste. I’m also getting better at watching coupons expire! I used to find myself using up a coupon that was soon to expire because what couponer wants to pass up a good deal?

I would find myself buying things that I had nothing to combine with for a meal and would end up throwing away or donating to the food-bank. I love to help the food-bank any way I can but this wasn’t making sense.  My goal is to save money and I’m spending money to store something in my house just to later pass on. Before any grocery shop I take a look at what I have and plan my meals before I pull out my coupon binder. I notice now that I am not needing as many coupons as I used to. Using what I have on-hand in the kitchen does help me save money. I do value my laundry soap and toilet paper coupons so I stock up when I have a good amount of coupons and find a great sale.

Shantique R.

I don’t cut out anything I won’t use. For example,  I won’t clip dog food coupons even if I can get it free with a match up because I don’t have a dog. I don’t want my house filled with clutter from “bargains”. I do know some people who WOULD do that though and donate the food. We used to have a box at work where everyone could drop off what they didn’t need and take what they did need. I received a LOT of diaper and wipes coupons when I needed them.

Carrie M.

I find it very hard to walk away from a sale or coupon. It took a lot of work to perfect the skill. I will instead leave the coupon on the shelf for someone who was going to buy a product because they needed it. I still have a hard time with free!

Cathleen R.

I’m on a local coupon train so what I don’t use I know someone else will and I don’t take coupons unless I know I will use them.

Mary C

I am not a big couponer but I am certainly willing to take a coupon that I will actually use. I tend to tailor my coupons to my shop, not the other way around.

Although coupons are an excellent way to lower the overall expenses in our grocery budget we have learned to limit what we purchase to what’s on our list or ensuring that we stick to our monthly budget. There’s no shame in letting a coupon expire, heck we throw lots of coupons in the bin each month and that’s OK. Get to know your limits, take inventory, plan your meals and shops with coupons you need rather than what you don’t need. I’m betting that if you watch some of your coupons expire for a few months you will see that you might just save yourself a few dollars!

Question: Do you let coupons expire or have you changed the way you use coupons over the years?

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