Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Thrifty + Bonus Crockpot Recipe!

 I like to be thrifty sometimes.  I get a little chuckle when I know that I have saved us some money.  It's fun and rewarding.  Today I have made homemade chicken noodle soup.  I spent alot of time on it.  I started with a whole bird.  I have extra chicken for a really yummy chicken pot pie or chicken n dumplings now too.  I feel good when I have extra things in my freezer.  I also cut some extra celery and onions and put them in freezer bags for my soups in the winter.  It really didn't take me any extra time or dirty anymore dishes and it used up some veggies that might of fallen into the black hole.  I was already using those ingredients in my soup.  I also had some fresh cherry tomatoes from my garden that have been eyeballing me.  So I washed and froze them whole.  I read online that you can do that with small tomatoes.  Another thing I did is make an extra broth from the bones of my chicken.  Now you are probably thinking that is gross. Have any of you made it before? Let me know.  I have not tried it because it went in the freezer for my next batch of soup.  I read about bone broth in a book about fibromyalgia.  It said it is extremely healthy for you.  We shall see ;).  I baked banana bread today because some sad looking bananas were peeking at me.  And the last thing I did was make bread pudding.  I was a busy mom but did I forget to mention that my kids went back to school today.  Oh I forgot to mention that part earlier.  Sorry.  I did take my little pumpkin for a nice long walk today too.  What did you do today?  Did you tackle being thrifty just for the fun of it?  Let me know your ways of being thrifty.  Lets be the nifty thrifty's!

Here is a delicious crock pot recipe for you.  Take care!

Black Bean Soup with Crab and Andouille Sausage
Thanks, Robin Miller

Ingredients

2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, drained
4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1/2 pound diced andouille sausage, I use kielbasa or polish sausage
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced carrots
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 bay leaves
Salt and ground black pepper

2 cups lump crabmeat, picked for shells and cartilage
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

In a slow cooker, combine beans, broth, tomatoes, sausage, onion, celery, carrots, cumin, bay leaves, and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper. Mix well. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.
Season, to taste, with salt and black pepper. Ladle into bowls and garnish with crab and cilantro.

I do not add the crab.  This is a delicious soup without that addition. 

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