Homemade Ready

I find that ground beef recipes are always real time-savers in the kitchen, and frequently turn to them when I need to get something on the table fast. And while ground beef isn't super-cheap the way it has been in days gone by (and this is probably a good thing), when you make it casserole-style, or serve it with a pile of rice and vegetables, it can still be a frugal meal. Ground beef recipes tend to be flexible, too, so if beef isn't your thing, or you don't have any on hand, you can always substitute another ground meat, like turkey or lamb. You can often even make a decent vegetarian meal from a ground beef recipe by substituting cooked lentils, or another meat substitute.  This easy recipe is one of my quick and easy favorites. It's my take on a traditional ground beef and tomato stew that is found in various Latin American countries and Spain. The way I do it is Cuban-style, using raisins for a bit of sweetness, olives for some saltiness, and the cla...

Tomato paste is an essential part of my pantry storage. It gives great, concentrated tomato flavor to so many recipes, but only takes up only a little bit of space on the shelf. The down side of tomato paste, of course, is the waste. It’s only very rarely that I will use an entire six-ounce can of tomato paste in one recipe (mainly spaghetti sauce and big pots of chili). Of course, you can buy one of those four or five-ounce tubes of tomato paste, store it in the fridge, and use a tablespoon or two here and there. This just isn’t a solution that appeals much to me. I just can’t feel good about buying those little tubes of paste because the cost per ounce is so much higher than the cans. At Target, for example, a 4.5-ounce tube of Amore Tomato Paste is $2.87, or $0.63 per ounce. By comparison, a 6-ounce can of Hunt’s Tomato Paste is $0.64, or roughly $0.10 per ounce. That is a huge difference in price! It’s a convenience I’m just not willing to pay for. (Note, if you want eve...