Heather's Bytes

If you missed it, here’s Part 1 on how to save a few bucks in the kitchen. These are just some small tips and ideas that I use to stretch a few bucks when I buy and prepare meals and food for my family.

Add something cheap. I don’t mean cheap in quality, but something that’s just usually inexpensive. When we make homemade burritos, I used to have to use two pounds of ground beef to get a decent sized burrito for each of us, but I hated using so much meat for one meal. Now I use one of my “pounds” of ground beef with a packet of seasoning mix as usual, and then add in a can of refried beans, mix it together in the pan and heat through. The beans stretch out the meat perfectly for my family of five, and the seasoned meat seasons the beans as well. It’s perfect. Read More

Everyone has tips and ideas that they like to use and share on how to save money around the house. One of my favorite places to see if I can save a few bucks is in the kitchen. There are the old standbys, like using coupons or reusing disposable containers, and I’ve got a few that I’ve done for a few years that I’ve found help us out when times are lean.

Invest in a kitchen scale. We buy our ground beef and ground turkey in bulk, in packages of five or so pounds each. A kitchen scale lets me get exactly the amount I need when I separate the ground meats into bags to freeze, instead of just guessing or eyeballing. Which brings me to: Read More

Last summer, Mike and I were brainstorming, trying to come up with ideas for some light summer dinners. One of his suggestions was fish tacos and I agreed to see what I could find. This is significant for two reasons: I don’t like 99% of the seafood I’ve tried (I want to like it, I just don’t), and I’d never had fish tacos before.

I found a bunch of recipes online and discovered that it’s a pretty basic dish. So, since I’m a glutton for punishment, I decided to up the ante a bit with some homemade tortillas, too. Harina is really easy to find here in Las Vegas and is perfect for making some delicious soft flour tortillas. If you can’t find harina at your local stores, though, you can find some recipes online to use instead.

Tortillas are pretty fun to make on your own but they require a little bit of arm strength when rolling them out. Take turns with someone so you don’t get burnt out! Use a cast iron skillet because you don’t want to use any extra fat in the pan (like you’d have to with a non-stick pan), and you have to turn the heat up pretty high. Slap the tortilla in on one side for about 30 seconds, and then flip it over to the other side. I usually just peek to see how dark they’re getting. It’s not rocket science!

Keep them “clam-shelled” in a long paper towel to avoid them sitting in condensation, and then fold over with some aluminum foil to keep them warm and pliable. Just add new tortillas on top and then fold the paper towel and foil back over.

For the fish tacos, I made up a batch of Baja Sauce. Beware, that recipe makes a TON, and even halved it still makes a ton. (And to be honest, we’re kind of over that particular recipe so when I make these again I’m going to dig up something else.)

For the fish I used a package of good frozen fish fillets. We’ve tried frying up our own and just couldn’t seem to get what we wanted. The fillets were perfect and deliciously crispy with no mess. I cut each fillet in half length-wise, then chopped those into threes (for a total of six bite sized pieces per fillet).

To assemble, slather some sauce onto the tortilla, then some crispy shredded cabbage. Next, add the fish, then a little more sauce, and some fresh chopped tomatoes (the ones in the picture above were from our garden last summer).

Needless to say, these are a hit. If you’re serving these to fish taco fanatics, buy two boxes of the good fish fillets since each fillet is the perfect size for one taco.

This is one of my many favorite meals: Korean-style short ribs. One of the reasons I like it so much is because the majority of it’s made in the crockpot, so a lot of the hard work is done for me and the house smells wonderful all day — how can you beat that? I like to serve it over white rice and garnish with toasted sesame seeds and chopped green onion.

If you can’t find short ribs or you have a bunch of people to feed (short ribs can be pricey), you can also use a pound or so of beef stew meat — it works really well and is already in perfect bite-sized pieces.

Korean-Style Short Ribs

1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 c packed light brown sugar (you can scale it down to 1/3 c)
2 Tb sesame oil
2 Tb rice vinegar
2 Tb minced fresh ginger
4 cloves of crushed garlic
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
5 lbs beef short ribs

3 Tb cornstarch
3 Tb cold water

Mix soy sauce, sugar, oil, vinegar, ginger, garlic and red pepper in a small bowl. Place ribs in a 5-quarter slow cooker and pour sauce over. Cover and cook on high for 6 hours or on low for 9 hours.

Transfer ribs to a platter, and skim and discard excess fat from liquid. Place liquid in a saucepan, combine cornstarch and water and add to liquid. Bring to a boil and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove meat from ribs, place over rice and top with sauce, green onions and sesame seeds.

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