Doing another load of laundry, made brother lunch, probably gonna have to pause to make my mom some in a minute as she just got up. So I’m probably not going to have much information in this particular post, but that’s because I want to use it for recipes. Recipes with less ingredients, simplistic recipes, etc. I am going to share some of my go to favorite recipes below. I will put the base, then mention all the ways it can be customized. We eat on a low budget around here so there isn’t too many specialty type foods that are generally needed to make what I do. And with my mom and brother having so many health conditions that require different ways to cook, I have been making a lot of recipes that they can both handle which are pretty “basic” overall.

I want you to join in. I usually have my blogs linked in the bottom of the newsletter, but I’m going to link this one in particular and make a note of it. Since I don’t have book news per se, outside of getting ready to send Law of the Beast to Jeanie, maybe first week of April, or 2nd, which is more for the next newsletter, I thought I would share recipes that don’t need any ingredients. Recipes that I feel many can easily make to.

If you have a recipe like that, either make your own blog post and link to it below. OR just write out the recipe. Even if it’s for crafts. Maybe a glue for kids to make, a play doh, that sort of thing. I’m gonna write mine casually the way I make them. So dump all in a bowl, lol.

Biscuits for 3

(picture below)

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A post shared by Kimberly Sue Iverson (@kimberlysueiverson)

If you need to feed more, double recipe. Combine 1 cup all purpose flour in a bowl. Dump about 1 tbsp sugar (if you want lightly sweet, honey works too, this can be omitted) on top of flour, a pinch of salt, 1 tbsp baking powder (use a fork and just scoop a small mountain the size of a walnut or so, doesn’t have to be exact), pinch of baking soda. Give it a stir with a fork. Add about 1/3 c shortening (again use fork and just eyeball to the size of a plum? close enough). Use fork to smoosh it up a lil in the flour. Just break it down, you don’t really even have to do this if you don’t want, you can literally dump all ingredients in a bowl, stir, and it’s still gonna be fine. Add enough milk (add a few tsps of lemon juice or vinegar to replicate buttermilk if you like) to combine all the ingredients. Anywhere from 1/4 c – 1/3 cup. If you don’t have milk, use water (leave out lemon juice if you do). If you don’t want to separate all the steps, dump all the stuff from the beginning into one bowl, combine everything at once. Seriously. If you have sour cream, add a tbsp (eyeball again, doesn’t need to be exact) to the mix. YUM.

Base recipe

1 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
Pinch of baking soda
1 tbsp baking soda
1/3 c shortening (Can use oil, cut amount in half. Can use butter, cut it down a little, not by half.)
1/4-1/3 cup or so milk, buttermilk, or water

*optional 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp sour cream

Mix it all up. Fold over on itself and press down a few times. Then separate into 3 balls. Flour your hands, roll balls in hands, add a bit more flour to your hands so the dough isn’t sticky, flatten out on a cast iron pan or any you like to cook on. Just gently press the biscuit down in the center to flatten a bit, don’t make less than 1/2 thick or it’ll be too thin. Don’t grease the pan unless you know for sure it sticks. Unless you like crispy bottomed biscuits, then do so. I like them cooked, but not burnt or crispy.

Cook at 400 for about 10-15 minutes, depending. Want them golden brown to a light brown. Again, personal preference. In the picture above, it’s a large single one, the recipe I wrote above are slightly smaller per biscuit.

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Cheeseburger Biscuit Pizza (6-12 servings)

This is one of my favorite go to meals that don’t require much to make, but can be a great meal. This implements usage of the biscuit recipe above. I double the recipe to make a big enough bottom layer. Note that when you put the biscuit recipe in a 13×9 pan, it’s best to wet a spoon or whatever flat thing you use with water so the dough doesn’t stick. The dough will be about 1/4″ thick in the pan. Won’t seem like it’s much, but trust me, it will rise and be perfect.

For this, you simply cook one pound of meat (whatever you want) with one jar of sauce (whatever you want, can use spaghetti sauce which is what I generally use, marinara sauce, manwich, or alfredo). I’ve even added BBQ sauce to the sauce I use and taco sauce to give it a different flavor. Combine the meat, put over the biscuit layer, then add 6 slices of American Cheese (whatever one you like) on top. Can leave it like that or sprinkle shredded cheese over it, parmesan, mozarella, whatevs. I low-key cook, I know, lol.

Base recipe

One pound meat (anything goes, beef, chicken, turkey, tuna may work too if it were with alfredo sauce, but I’ve never tried tuna with this so can’t be sure)
One jar/can sauce (figure a 12-16 ounce to be safe)
Biscuit recipe (above)
6 slices of cheese
*optional shredded cheese

Cook at 400 for about 30 minutes, or until cheese starts to bubble and brown. Or, poke in the center to check for whether the dough is cooked through.

If you take the same ingredients and layer them in thin layers, and start with salt free crackers, you can actually use similar ingredients and make it into a cheapo lasagna. Or, make a lasagna the SAME way that you’re supposed to, but don’t use the noodles, use crackers. Trust me, just as good.

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None of the recipes above are meant to be high quality or “expensive.” They are meant to fill an empty stomach with fairly limited ingredients. That’s it. Add in broccoli, vegetables, that sort of thing to make it better. We serve the biscuit pizza with salad or rice. Or I will have a biscuit by itself with some tea and chickpeas like I did last night. Or, I will add nutella for a dessert biscuit. There’s so many methods of customizing that biscuit recipe.

Another great method to extend items is what I will do tonight. I am gonna combine two cups of soaked chickpeas with a can of shredded low sodium chicken in my food processor, then turn them into “burgers.” I love to use other beans that way too. Kidney, black, mountain, I’ve even used ground up peas. If you need a binder, I find ground oatmeal to be good.

I have plenty of other cheapo recipes, but those are two of my favorites. I half that biscuit recipe when it’s just me. Makes a big single biscuit, but often that’s my only meal I eat for dinner, then I have hot tea with it, hot cocoa.

Again, if you have a cheap recipe to share, post it in the comments! Or post on your blog and link to it in the comments. Please note that I have them moderated, but within 24 hrs they will post. 🙂 I’m just doing it for a bit to ensure I don’t get spam.

ETA – If you especially know of gluten free recipes that can easily be made, drop that below. Had a request on my FB profile from Chelsea so that would be a huge benefit for anyone else in her shoes. Especially for family meals. 🙂

GOT A FREE READ UP? Go here to share! – https://kimberlysueiverson.com/2020/03/30/author-freebies/

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