Eat well for less with home cooking

My editor at the Appeal wanted to know if I could write about things you can do and ways to help you cook in these tough economic times. I have a few suggestions and some helpful hints that I'll share with you in my next couple of columns. I've said some of this before so consider it a reminder. First and foremost you need to start cooking.

Cook once and eat twice or even three times. Plan for leftovers whether it's another meal to freeze, have later in the week or maybe you can take it for your lunch. It saves time, energy and money. Just make sure everyone in your family knows you plan on having it for dinner later in the week so they don't get into it without your knowledge and you go to serve it and find yourself short.

Chilly weather is good for braising, stewing, and slow cooking anything. Most of the meats you use in this kind of cooking are cheaper cuts.

When I'm in the market shopping I always look at the meats and seafood that are marked down. A lot of the time they are close to the sell by date so you need to cook it immediately or freeze it. For the oxtails in this week' s recipe, each packages was marked $4. I got two packages of oxtails for under $4 and it was enough for two meals. I already had the carrots and potatoes on hand and had the cooked portabella mushrooms in the freezer.

Your freezer is another great tool for helping you to save money on your grocery bill. Buy what you use when it's on sale and put it in the freezer. It you have things in your fridge that aren't looking like they are going to get used before they go bad, freeze them. I have little bags of celery, carrots and onions in my freezer. They won't be great in a lot of dishes but will be just fine in adding flavor to soups and stocks.

Buy in bulk and if it's too much for your family to use find a friend to split it with. My friend Karen Gasper and I shop at Costco and split stuff all the time. Have breakfast for dinner. Pancakes, waffles and omelets are usually cheaper to fix and you don't necessarily need meat. If you have batter leftover make extra waffles and freeze them for a quick meal when you're short on time. They are definitely better and cheaper than store bought.

Keep track of what's in your freezer and refrigerator and how long it's been there. We American families throw out more food than some Third World families eat in a year. It 's shameful! If every time you throw something away and put a price on it, and you put that money in a can for a year, you'd be amazed at how much it would be.

At the start of each year I try and use up everything that's in my freezer before I start buying more. You think you know what's in there and that it's organized but I found out differently after I put a soda in the freezer to get cold and forgot about it and had an exploded mess to clean up. Put stuff on the top shelves to use first and rotate and label what you buy.

I'm going to leave you with this quote, "There is no sight on earth more appealing than that of a woman (or man) making dinner for someone they love." - Thomas Wolfe

- Linda Marrone has been a Carson City resident since 1973 and together with her husband, Ralph, formerly operated Marrone's Restaurant in Carson City and Somethin's Cookin' Catering.

Oxtail Stew

Oxtails, onions, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, beef broth, parsley for garnish

Dredge your oxtails lightly in flour with salt and pepper and brown in a fry pan with a little canola oil. Remove oxtails and place in dutch oven or crockpot with enough beef broth to almost cover the meat. At this time you can add about 1 cup chopped onions, and mushrooms or carrots. If you add the carrots at the start of the cooking process they will be really soft. You can add them with the potatoes towards the end if that is more to your liking. I bake the oxtails about 3 hours in a slow oven at 325 degrees or follow the directions on your slow cooker.

You can also add about 3⁄4 cup red wine. You do need to check on the liquid as it cooks and add more if needed.

How about some easy homemade Angel Biscuits to go along with this comforting dinner. This recipe makes enough so you could have them with your omelets for supper.

We spread ours with raspberry jam that I canned this summer and it s like dessert! Yeast helps to make these biscuits light and letting them rise makes them even lighter.

Angel Biscuits

1 package regular active dry yeast

2 tablespoons water (105 to 115 degrees), yes I use a thermometer

1/2 cup shortening

2 1/2 cups flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

About 1 cup buttermilk

Heat oven to 375. Dissolve yeast in warm water with 1 teaspoon of the sugar, set aside till bubbly. Mix the rest of dry ingredients in a bowl and cut shortening into mixture until it resembles fine crumbs. Stir in yeast mixture and just enough buttermilk so dough leaves side of bowl and forms a ball. Turn dough onto flowered surface and knead lightly 25 to 30 times, sprinkling with flour if dough is too sticky. Roll into 1/2 inch thick. Cut with floured 2 12 inch biscuit cutter and place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Cover and let the biscuits rise in a warm place about 30 minutes or until puffy.

Bake 12 - 14 minutes or until golden brown. While biscuits are still warm brush with melted butter if desired. Serve hot. Makes about 15.