Frugal Comfort Food

We needed a hearty breakfast this morning as the children had swimming lessons

 to attend first thing.  Let's see.... what's fast, nutritious, filling and NOT sugary?  Fried garden potatoes and onions topped with eggs from our hens and a side of applesauce (made recently from our own apples!).  In my thoughts, if you have a garden, potatoes should be at least half of the total square footage - they are so versatile and delicious and they store easily for many months.

We took sandwiches for the 2 youngest kids for lunch as they are always STARVING when they get out of the pool and I knew they wouldn't be able to wait until we got home.  Taking some snacks or a lunch prevents the urgent clambering for a fast food meal and helps keep the budget in check.

Late this afternoon, I decided to make a hearty chicken stew for supper.  I've been fighting a cold, and I had a few chicken carcasses in the freezer to use up, so today seemed the perfect day to do it.  I popped the partially defrosted carcasses into my pressure cooker and then added water, a few onions, some seasoning and springs of herbs from the garden.  Because they were not defrosted all the way, I cooked them a little longer than the usual hour and during that time, I prepped some veggies for the stew (garden carrots & peas, more onions and some corn from the pantry).

After natural pressure release, I strained the broth and let the bones and meat cool while I added the uncooked veggies to the broth.  A short return to high pressure (6 mins) was plenty to fully cook the carrots and onions, then I added the peas and corn.  While that simmered, I picked off the meat from the bones to add to the stew.  I don't like to use the meat from the bones if it has been cooked in a slow cooker all day as it's rubbery and tasteless, but when broth is made in a pressure cooker, the texture and flavour of the meat is much better, so I use it.  I also added the leftover fried potatoes and onions from breakfast (we are trying not to let leftovers go to waste) which gave the stew some bulk and great flavour.  A bit of flour mixed with water was used to thicken the stew, and I adjusted the herbs and seasonings to our taste.

This stew is delicious and flavourful! It's a great frugal meal that's tremendously healthy and easy to make.  I LOVE my pressure cookers for this task as it cuts down dramatically on the time needed to cook meals that traditionally need a whole day of simmering.  There's even enough left for another meal which will make my life SO much easier tomorrow.  Cooking once to eat twice is aces in my book!