Deb introduces your best guide to thrift

Hi! The old print version of THE PENNY ORCHID -- "Thrift with Flair" is now available as a blog. (Its ISSN is 1522-9831, and its registered trademark, which includes a logo, will run through 2009 without further application.) You will find here, once a week, a recipe ("Something From Almost Nothing") that uses seasonal produce for rock-bottom priced-meals. You will also find a short essay, which could be on "Health Is Wealth," "Well Worth It (a review of a book or product)," "Common Cents (general ideas on thrift," or "Pro Bono (the law & you. Deb is an inactive attorney.)" You will find THE PENNY ORCHID to be published most Thursdays, except in the case of Thanksgiving or another secular or a Jewish holiday.

Here's your first "Something From Almost Nothing," & it's luscious.

Chicken and Tomato Saute with Potato

2 T canola oil

1/2 pound baked potato, sliced thickly

1/2 large or 1 medium onion, chopped

3 medium tomatoes, cut in half and sliced (use the juice, too)

1 c shredded chicken

heaping 1/2 tsp sage

1 scant tsp salt

freshly-ground black pepper

Place all in a large skillet. Mix thoroughly. Cook 8 minutes over high heat, covered. Then reduce heat to low, & cook for another 15 minutes. Serves 3 as an entree.

COPYRIGHT Deborah Michelle Sanders 2004

COMMON CENTS: Sorting Your Chicken Into One-Cup Portions for Freezing:

You can either roast or poach your chicken. By poaching, you are making chicken soup in the first place. The chicken will be moister, but less flavorsome. I prefer roasting chicken, & then making soup with the frames of a couple or three roasted chickens. In either event, set aside some time once the chicken has cooled (in the fridge -- you don't want to inoculate a bacteria culture!) to pull the chicken off the bones & apportion it out. Place 2 plastic bags at one side of your work, to stick your hands into should a child or the telephone need your attention. Use the biggest bowl that you have to place the chicken into. Take another large bowl and throw chicken fat and bones into it -- grist for that soup if you have roasted the chicken. Shred the chicken in the large bowl as you work. It is fine to take breaks from this work -- it is repetitive stress motion and can be injurious. Take a 2-cup glass measure and fill it to the 1-cup line. Each time that you have filled a cup, pour the chicken into a freezer container. I like the plastic cubes that cost $2 for five cubes and hold 2 cups each. They are much less trouble to keep clean than washing & drying plastic bags. (But some people prefer the latter since with the air siphoned out -- use a straw at one edge -- they take up less room in the freezer.) Every time you have filled 3 containers, put them in the fridge for food safety. When you are all done, count the number of packages & prepare labels ("chicken, 1 cup, [date]."

All of my recipes that include chicken call for 1 cup of shredded chicken so you will find plenty of uses for these portions.

COPYRIGHT Deborah Michelle Sanders 2004

A SPECIAL "HEALTH IS WEALTH" NOTICE:

The British Broadcasting Company recently published a surprising finding. It is NOT good or safe to rinse poultry before cooking it. Germs are killed in the process of cooking. But, if you wash the chicken before putting it in the pot, you are spraying pathogens all over your sink.

It's important, of course, to carefully wash any cutting board and knife or scissors that you have used to prepare the poultry.

All of this is true when you prepare any form of meat.

This information came from the British Food and Drink Federation and the British Food Standards Agency.

COPYRIGHT Deborah Michelle Sanders 2004

Yours in thrift, until next time, Deb