Looking for a quick, easy, yet special meal for Valentine’s? Try this hanger steak, just cut the recipe in half if you are making it for two. ~Elise

One of the best things about having a butcher close by who knows a thing or two about meat is that we are often inspired to try cuts that would otherwise be unfamiliar to us. Hanger steak is one of those cuts. Also known as a “butcher’s steak”, the hanger steak “hangs” down from a steer’s diaphragm, attached to the last rib and spine near the kidneys (according to the Wikipedia). It is highly flavorful, but isn’t perfectly tender, so it responds well to quick cooking with searing heat, and a thin slicing against the grain to serve. This recipe we picked up from our local butcher at Corti Brothers who in turn got it from Chef Daniel Boulud. According to chef Boulud, French bistros traditionally serve this steak along with pommes frites (French fries). We passed on the fries and went with broccoli and boiled potatoes. Outstanding, and very easy to make.

Continue reading “Hanger Steak with Shallots” »

Sometimes baking a birthday cake just isn’t quite the best choice to celebrate a birthday. Every birthday deserves to be celebrated - but baking a cake that winds up getting wasted because no one is going to eat it is a true disappointment. Baked goods are meant to be enjoyed and shared. Here are some [...]

It wasn’t terribly surprising to learn that readers of Mark Bittman’s New York Times blog nominated a legendary chocolate-based dessert as the recipe they wanted for Valentine’s Day.
So deeply rooted is our belief in chocolate’s romantic properties that it’s become a cliché to offer chocolate to a beloved — despite various claims that chocolate is [...]

Welcome to Tips from a Frugal Housewife.

Today’s tip is one I stumbled upon a few years ago. Did you know that most grocery stores have a website and on the website you can view this weeks ad?

You can actually pull up the weekly ad from each store on separate tabs of your browser and compare prices between stores. I find that quite often the stores have just about the same things on sale.

I figure out which store has the most things on sale that I need, and I shop there.

One thing to beware of are the dates on the ads, I have been burned more than once by not catching the dates the ads are valid thru!

Welcome to Tips from a Frugal Housewife.

Today’s tip is a good one I have been using for many years. Instead of wasting paper towels in your kitchen, use white dish towels.

Once every few years, I buy the plain white bar towels or just plain white hand towels from Costco. They come in a 12 pack I believe.

I keep 2 on hand at all times in the kitchen. When they are dirty, just wash them. I bleach them all quarterly. When they start to fray or are too stained to continue to use, they become “dog towels” and are relegated to the garage.

No waste, and you save a bunch of money on paper towels.

Now if I could get my husband to slow down on his paper towel usage when he cooks I would be golden!

Last year, SMITH Magazine and CHOW sponsored a six-word memoir contest that challenged people to write a pithy summary of their relationship to food.
It included entries such as: “Lost Mother’s recipe for tuna casserole;” “Too many recipes, too little time;” “Buying unrecognizable vegetables at farmer’s market;” “Greek girls know how to cook;” “Does Grandma make [...]