Frugal and Filling

Well....today has not been a bad day....it has simply been a crazy busy day. By the way....Happy Labor Day all. Tomorrow we get back to the real world, but for a few more short hours....I am free!

So it is recipe day today. While I was trying to decide what to share today....I was going through my frig and freezer. Being that I am a very big budget girl.....my freezer always has the good old stand by....ground beef on hand. I usually buy it in large packages when it is on sale and then divide it into one pound packages and freeze it. It makes for easy thawing and quick meals. And when I am being even more time efficient....I take a Saturday or Sunday and fry up a bunch of ground meat. Some I fry up with onion and another batch I will fry up and seasSon with taco seasoning. Then I freeze them in marked packages. This makes it easy to grab when you want to throw some in for spaghetti with meat sauce or if you want to thaw and heat for quick taco's or chili.

As I was saying though....my freezer is loaded with the stuff, so this got me to thinking....most of us are on a budget and most of us that grew up in the 60's and 70's remember our parents being on a budget and eating budget friendly throw togethers. So today's recipes are themed around ground beef and budget friendly. The first one is not mine.....this was given to me many years ago by my friend Berty. Berty was one of 12 kids and her mom knew better than anyone how to stretch a dollar and a pound of ground beef. Berty's family perfected this recipe, then my mom used it and I have used literally thousands of times (least it seems that way) over the years. It is Aunt Ruth's Western Beans. The other recipe which I will be sharing was one I came up with one time when I wanted to make veggie beef soup but had no stew meat. I just decided to substitute what I had....and wouldn't you know it....I had ground beef. I thusly named it Ground Beef Soup. These recipes are not fancy, but both are easy on the budget and filling. They can be adjusted to fit any size family and the soup can be frozen and used at a later time.  They have that familiar taste of growing up with just a touch of comfort food thrown in for good measure. Hope you enjoy them and as always....would love to hear your thoughts.

Aunt Ruth's Western Beans
1 lb ground beef browned with onion (until onion is translucent)
1 can pork-n-beans (can also uses any variety of Bush's beans)
1 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP ketchup
Toast
American cheese slices

After meat is browned add can of pork-n-beans. Then add the brown sugar and ketchup. Cook until thoroughly heated. Then toast two slices of any kind of bread you like. Place on plate side by side. Cover toast with the meat/bean mixture and then place a slice of cheese on each. Let melt on it's own or stick under broiler until bubbly. Serve with a veggie or salad and you have a hearty meal for very little cash.

Ground Beef Soup
1 lb ground beef browned
1 med. onion diced
4 lg. potatoes diced
4 lg. carrots diced
1/2 cabbage shredded
1 reg. size can of diced tomatoes
1 sm. box elbow macaroni (uncooked) if desired
4 cups water
4 beef bouillon cube
sea salt
pepper
garlic powder
Mrs. Dash

After browning ground beef, put all ingredients into a a 5qt or bigger crock pot. Stir to mix and cook on high for 5 hours or low for 8. Serve with crusty bread or a salad and you have a ready made meal when you walk in the door.

So today's focus was not on fancy but more on frugal and filling. If you have some frugal and filling recipes....please share. In this economy....I am sure we can all use a little help. Here's hoping that you had a relaxing Labor Day and now that we have Monday out of the way.....this short week will be great for us all. Happy Monday everyone!