My husband and I are trying to eat more vegetarian meals and what better and easier way to serve them than to stir-fry vegetables in a wok.  It’s fast, low calorie, and keeps the nutrients inherent in the fresh veggies.  But the dishes can easily come out all tasting the same if you don’t flavor them with different sauces.  Here are five easy ones you can inexpensively make at home and save money on expensive store-bought brands.

Sweet and Sour Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp. peanut oil
• 1 tsp. crushed garlic
• 1/16 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp. water
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:

Heat oil in a wok, stir in garlic and ginger, add the 1/2 cup of water, vinegar, sugar and ketchup, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, dissolve the cornstarch in water and stir in salt. 

Once wok sauce is heated, add the cornstarch mixture and cook until desired consistency.

Thai Peanut Sauce

• 4 teaspoons corn oil
• 1/2 cup minced red onion
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon hot chili pepper
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup of water

In a blender, combine corn oil, onion, garlic and hot chili pepper; blend for 1 minute.
Empty the mixture into a saucepan and place over low heat until the mixture starts releasing aroma. Add peanut butter and mix well over low heat.

Add water and let it simmer for 10 minutes or until thickened.

Stir in vinegar and sugar; continue to simmer for another 1-2 minutes. Taste and add more vinegar and sugar if the mixture does not have the sour and sweet taste.

Place sauce in a shallow plate for satay dipping or pour over fresh salad.

Chinese Hot Mustard

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup boiling water
• 1/4 cup powdered mustard (found at a local Chinese grocery)
• 1 tsp. vegetable oil

Directions:

Slowly stir the water into the mustard powder. Add the oil, stir and serve.

Fish Sauce

Ingredients:

• 12 to 14 anchovy filets
• 1 cup water
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce

Directions:

Soak anchovies in water for about an hour. Strain, add soy sauce and stir.

Hot Chili Sauce

Ingredients:

• 6 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp. hot chili powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Directions:

Mix chili powder and salt in a small glass bowl. Heat oil in a small sauce pan, slowly pour into the powder mixture, stirring constantly, and let stand until cool, about 15 minutes.

Related posts:

1. Green Chile Sauce Recipe – Simply Wonderful
2. Homemade Versions of Convenience Foods
3. Easy, Inexpensive Low-Sugar Spaghetti Sauce

Now that we’ve used up our sour milk in our Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Challenge, let’s talk about how you can reuse that milk container for other purposes. Did you know that milk jugs represent one of the largest volume of plastics in landfills?

I have a pretty planter in front of my fireplace. The container was given to me by a co-worker after Christmas. It originally held a huge amount of goodies that was sent to the company. I had mentioned that I liked the container better than the goodies, and one day it showed up on my desk.

The pretty plants were also given to me, from “The Plant Lady”, as I call her at work. She is hired to come in and water and care for the plants in the building. Wouldn’t you love to have a plant lady come and take care of your plant? I would! I had told her my sob story about me killing all my plants after leaving them outside during a sudden, unexpected frost. Anyway, she kindly gave me these plants after the flowers were spent.

Free is good. Free is definitely savvy and frugal!

The plants fit perfectly in the metal container, but whenever I water, it pools in the bottom and I didn’t have any drain catchers. That’s where the milk container comes in.

By cutting the bottom off, it made a perfect catcher for the water. And as you can see (or not), you can’t even see the milk jug under the plant. I can’t wait until they flower again.

Now for the top of the container. The top of the jug, with the handle attached, makes a perfect funnel! Here I demonstrate filling a smaller container from a larger, but there are many other uses too.

How about in the garage for oil changes? Or filling shampoo and conditioner dispensers? And after using, they can be rinsed and recycled. No waste!

Of course, there are many other uses for reusing a milk jug, but these are things that I needed. Here are 35 other ideas to get you started at this great website, http://www.plantea.com/milk-jug.htm.

Continue with the Challenge!
Part 1 – Pumpkin Vanilla Pie
Part 2 – Fruit Smoothies
Part 3 – Spinach Ravioli with Alfredo Sauce
Part 4 – Pancakes with Secret Ingredient
Part 5 – Flank Steak with Mushroom Gravy

Reusing the Milk Jug Top

Related posts:

1. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 4 – Pancakes with Secret Ingredient
2. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 1 of the Challenge – Pumpkin Vanilla Pie
3. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 3 – Spinach Ravioli with Alfredo Sauce

For those of you just joining this post series, our challenge was to cook with 1/2 gallon of milk that had slightly soured rather than waste money by pouring it down the drain, thereby supporting our goal of saving money and frugal shopping. Where many of you wouldn’t hesitate to dump sour milk down the drain, we made 5 delicious meals, and only used ingredients that were already in my pantry or refrigerator.

Wow! I had no idea that it would take 5 recipes (and 5 posts) just to use up 1/2 gallon of milk! As I mentioned in Post #3, the milk seemed to be multiplying every time I opened the refrigerator. But look at the picture! It’s finally gone.

For the last meal that finally did the trick, I made Flank Steak with Mushroom Gravy.

Here are the ingredients.

Flank Steak with Mushroom Gravy

one flank steak – mine was about 1-1/2 pounds

one can mushrooms, or 8 oz. fresh

one cup milk – the last of it!

1 Tablespoon butter

3 Tablespoons flour

spices – I used tuscan spice from Costco, and also 2 packets of Horsey Sauce from Arby’s for a little kick

This recipe was really easy and my husband loved it. I thinly sliced the flank steak across the grain. Add to a fry pan coated with Pam, and sprinkle with seasonings to taste. I also added the mushroom water from the can of mushrooms.

Cook until desired degree of doneness. My husband doesn’t like any pink, so I cooked thoroughly, but you may like it a little rarer. Add the mushrooms toward the end of the cooking time. If using fresh, add earlier.

Remove meat when done, and keep warm (the mushrooms will stay behind). Add butter and melt, then add flour and mix thoroughly, scraping up the pan bits left from the meat. Add milk slowly and stir to remove lumps. Add Horsey Sauce. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Arrange sliced steak on platter and top with mushroom gravy.

Flank Steak with Mushroom Gravy

Carol’s Tip: You can also use a can of cream of mushroom soup thinned with a bit of milk or water for the gravy. It’s delicious too but more costly than making your own sauce.

Continue with the Challenge!
Part 1 – Pumpkin Vanilla Pie
Part 2 – Fruit Smoothies
Part 3 – Spinach Ravioli with Alfredo Sauce
Part 4 – Pancakes with Secret Ingredient
Part 6 – Wrap Up

Related posts:

1. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 3 – Spinach Ravioli with Alfredo Sauce
2. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 1 of the Challenge – Pumpkin Vanilla Pie
3. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 4 – Pancakes with Secret Ingredient

And still we have milk! This is Day 3 of the challenge to use up 1/2 gallon of slightly sour milk so you don’t have to toss it.

This morning, I made pancakes. Nothing special about that, but wait until you hear what I did. (And don’t tell my family!)

I love using Bisquick to make pancakes. I’m too lazy to make them from scratch, even though I know it’s more frugal. (Maybe we’ll come up with our own homemade Bisquick recipe).

I served the Pie that I made on the first night for dessert last night. I’d give it 2 thumbs up, but I wish I’d added a bit of sugar. My kids wouldn’t eat it because it had “pumpkin” in it. (Son#3 asked me this morning, “Is syrup considered a vegetable?” This coming from my vegetarian! You wish! I’ll laugh about this all day!) So I had about 2/3 of the pie left over.

I made a double batch of pancakes so I could freeze the leftovers. That also used 2-1/2 cups of milk! But my secret is…I took the pie from last night, scraped the filling from it and except for the crust, added it to my pancake mix. Think about it, the pie had pumpkin, cream cheese, and pudding…all good ingredients for a pancake. I also added about 1/2 cup Malt-O-Meal to the mix, which adds vitamins and protein. (The remaining pie crust and small amount of filling can be eaten as usual)

Mix and cook the pancakes as you normally would. Every one liked them, and no one knew the wiser, except you and me. (Actually, after I wrote this post, the girlfriend of son#2 did ask me if I had added the pie to the pancakes! Smart girl!)

Freeze the leftover cooked pancakes by placing them between waxed paper and freezing them in a ziploc bag. They can easily be reheated in the microwave.

Continue with the Challenge!
Part 1 – Pumpkin Vanilla Pie
Part 2 – Fruit Smoothies
Part 3 – Spinach Ravioli with Alfredo Sauce
Part 5 – Flank Steak with Mushroom Gravy
Part 6 – Wrap Up

Related posts:

1. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 1 of the Challenge – Pumpkin Vanilla Pie
2. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 6 – Wrap Up
3. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 5 – Flank Steak with Mushroom Gravy

Tonight we’re having Spinach Ravioli with Alfredo Sauce.

This was extra fun because son#2’s girlfriend was over for dinner, and I was walking her through the steps to make the homemade sauce. With 3 sons and a husband, it was so nice to actually have another female in the house!

The ravioli was purchased at Costco, and comes with 2 packs of herbed parmesan cheese packets. Normally, I just toss the ravioli with a bit of olive oil, add the packets, and serve. But we’re still on our quest to use up the half gallon of milk, which I swear is multiplying in my refrigerator!

Spinach Ravioli with Alfredo Sauce

Ravioli – cooked according to directions

A large handful of fresh spinach

2 packets of the herbed parmesan cheese mix

1 Tablespoon butter

1/4 cup flour

3 cups of milk (this will help with the challenge)

Before you cook the ravioli, cut the spinach into strips and add the spinach to the boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes. Remove. (To make it easier, use the pasta pot insert with the holes.) Now cook the pasta.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and mix well. Start adding the milk little by little, mixing to remove lumps. Add the remainder of the milk. Keep stirring on medium heat until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. This is where I get impatient and sometimes scorch the bottom; I either turn the burner up too high or stop stirring. Don’t make my mistake.

Once thickened, add the cheese packets and spinach. This will thicken it nicely.

Place the cooked, drained pasta in a large bowl, add sauce and serve immediately. This served 5 adults, with enough leftovers for one lunch.

This got rave reviews from all, and I was happy to use up 3 cups of milk.

Continue with the Challenge!
Part 1 – Pumpkin Vanilla Pie
Part 2 – Fruit Smoothies
Part 4 – Pancakes with Secret Ingredient
Part 5 – Flank Steak with Mushroom Gravy
Part 6 – Wrap Up

Related posts:

1. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 5 – Flank Steak with Mushroom Gravy
2. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 1 of the Challenge – Pumpkin Vanilla Pie
3. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 4 – Pancakes with Secret Ingredient