I just scored $64 worth of meat for $25!

I love getting a great deal and I have to share with y'all my trip to Harris Teeter just now.  The hubs wanted lottery tickets for tonight's $400M jackpot and asked me to run out for them.  He is already out but is unable to stop.  *sigh*  I was not happy about going to the ATM for cash and then hitting a grocery store at evening rush hour, but out I went.

As I'm walking in the door, I glance at the front page of the sales ad that ends today and see B2G3 free of shrimp.  Shrimp is B's favorite food in the world, so I headed back to the seafood department after getting the lottery tickets.  Turns out it was buy two 2 lb bags of shrimp and get three 2 lb bags free.  Ten pounds of shrimp is a bit much ;o) so I passed.

But while I was in the back of the store, I perused the meat section.  I only shop at the Teeter if I need one or two things (and I don't want to go farther to Wegmans) or I'm getting Teeter's Friday night fried chicken special.  But if I need to be in the back of the store, I check the meat department for markdowns.  I hit the mother load today!

1. Ready to Cook chicken breast stuffed with Bleu cheese and wrapped in bacon, 9oz.  Regularly $4.99, got it for $1.99.
2. Ready to Cook Chicken Cordon Bleu, 10oz.  Regularly $4.99, got it for $1.99.  Both this one and the one above have a sell by date of 3/19/14, so dinner for tomorrow is done!
3. Three Ribeye steaks, totaling 2.63 lbs.  Regularly $36.79, got them for $12.86.  
4. Trimmed and tied pork loin roast, 2.32 lbs.  Regularly $9.95, got it for $4.71.  That works out to $2.03/lb and I know I can buy a whole pork loin on sale for $1.99/lb.  But I'd have to wait for a sale, unwrap it, break it down into small roasts and chops and rewrap for freezing.  This roast is already trimmed and tied and a perfect size to feed my family for a week or to serve the next time we have guests.
5. Fresh Johnsonville Irish O'Garlic sausage.  Now, this one wasn't as big of a savings as the other items.  The 1 lb 3 oz package is regularly $5.49 and had a store coupon of  $1.50 on it since St. Patrick's Day is over.  This is for the hubs who will literally do a jig when he comes home and sees it.  Since I got such good deals on the other meats, and I want to see his jig, I "splurged" on this for him.

With tax the original price of all this would have been $63.77 but I got it all for $25.18.  It was meant to be and my freezer and I are very happy (we were down to just chicken breasts and ground beef before I went to the store).

Smoked Sausage and Tortellini

 

I found this recipe for Tortellini with Edamame and Smoked Sausage  a couple of weeks ago.  I am not a fan of edamame, but I liked the idea of combining smoked sausage and tortellini.  I'd never done it before and wanted to try it. I got out a bag of spinach and cheese tortellini and some smoked sausage Thursday night and thought about what kind of sauce I wanted to put on it.  I finally decided to go with the sauce from my Sautéed Chicken with White Wine and Shallots.  YUM-O!

I sliced up the smoked sausage and browned it over medium heat...

...and cooked my spinach and cheese tortellini.

After the sausage was sufficiently heated and browned, I removed the sausage to a paper towel-lined bowl to drain.  Added a tbsp of butter and a tbsp of Wegmans Basting Oil to the pan.

I chopped up a tomato, a couple of shallots and a couple of garlic cloves...

...and sautéed them for about 5 minutes to soften.

Added 3/4 c white wine, salt and pepper and let simmer for a few minutes.

This is the hubs' plate.  Tortellini and smoked sausage tossed with the flavorful wine, tomato, 

shallot and garlic sauce with parmesan cheese on top.  Mmmmmmmm.

B chose tortellini and smoked sausage with the spaghetti sauce I made yesterday 

and, of course, parmesan cheese.

Sausage Pancake Muffins

B loves pancakes for breakfast but I don't like making them.  I think it's similar to the reason I don't like making cookies - all the pouring, watching, waiting, cooking one at a time.  Blah!  I saw cut up hot dogs in corn muffins on Pinterest so I decided to try cut up sausages in pancake batter.

I heated up a package of Banquet Brown n Serve sausage links and cut them into thirds.

I made a batch of homemade pancake batter but you can use a mix; it's OK, there's no judging here.  In fact, look closely at my pan.  Spilled batter, stained, I mean seasoned ;o), muffin pan...  Added batter.

Plopped 2-3 pieces of sausage in each cup and baked at 350 for 15 minutes. 

They cook all at the same time!

Plate of breakfast manna!  Add syrup and enjoy.  :o)  

(B has requested that I use bacon next time.)

Baked Potato and Sausage Soup

I made this for the hubs and B's dinner on Halloween.  I was in the mood for Milwaukee Pork Stew and made that for myself.  This recipe is easy and quick and simple changes can make it gluten-free or dairy-free if you want.

2 baking potatoes, baked and cooled 

8oz smoked sausage, sliced and quartered

1/2 tbsp butter

1/2 a small onion, diced 

2 tbsp flour 

3 cups milk or chicken stock

3/4 cup frozen corn, rinse to thaw

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese 

Fresh ground pepper, salt and onion powder, to taste

Add butter to dutch oven and heat medium-high.  Cook sausage and onion in dutch oven until sausage browns and onions are soft. While they are cooking, cut cooled baked potatoes in half, scoop out flesh and mash with a fork. Save skins for an appetizer another night or just dice up potatoes with skins for this soup; I have done both. Once onions are cooked, sprinkle with flour, stir to coat for a few minutes to cook out the "floury" taste. Gradually add milk or stock, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Continue to stir until mixture thickens, scraping the brown bits off the bottom of the pan (the best part!). Add potatoes, corn and cheese to mixture and stir until cheese melts and everything is heated through. Add pepper, salt, onion powder and/or whatever other spice to suit your taste.  Serve with The Bread.

• You can use fresh sausage that is GF and or DF in lieu of the smoked.
• You can skip the flour or use a GF alternative
• Use your favorite cooking oil in lieu of butter
• The cheese can be left out and it will taste just as good
• When I am planning this dish ahead of time, I'll bake the potatoes in the oven with another night's dinner to save energy.  If I am making this last minute, I throw the potatoes in the microwave for 8 minutes.
• I made this the other night with milk b/c I was out of chicken stock, but I usually make it with chicken stock.

Recipes: Baked Potato and Sausage Soup with Beer Biscuits

The soup is a dump recipe I made up a couple of years ago as the result of a craving.

Baked Potato & Sausage Soup

2 baking potatoes, baked and cooled 

8oz smoked sausage, sliced 1/2" thick and then quartered 

1/2 tbsp butter 

1/2 a small onion, diced 

2 tbsp flour 

3 cups milk or chicken stock

3/4 cup frozen corn, rinse to thaw

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

Fresh ground pepper, salt and onion powder, to taste 

Cook sausage in dutch oven until brown; remove. Add onion to same pot and cook in sausage fat until soft. Add butter if needed in order to cook onions. While they are cooking, cut cooled baked potatoes up and mash with a fork. Once onions are cooked, sprinkle with flour, stir to coat and cook for a few minutes to cook off the flour taste. Gradually add milk or stock, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.

Continue to stir until mixture thickens, scraping the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add potato, sausage, corn and cheese to mixture and stir until cheese melts and everything is heated through. Add pepper, salt and onion powder and/or whatever other spice to suit your taste.

Do you know Paula Deen?  She ranks right up there with The Pioneer Woman, in my book.  Ben used to think she was really Mrs. Claus and Paula Deen was her alias.  I made her wonderful Beer Biscuits to go with the soup.  I usually half the recipe and bake 6 biscuits when it's just us.  The hubs then eats the leftover biscuits for snacks.

Beer Biscuits

4 cup Bisquick 

1/2 cup sugar 

1 12-ounce can of beer 

2 tablespoon butter, melted 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients well. Pour into well-greased muffin tins. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with honey butter. Makes 12 - 16 biscuits. 

Honey butter: mix room temperature butter with honey in a 3:1 or 2:1 ratio, depending on your taste.