Living on a budget in a small town.

Hubby and I are living on a very strict budget for the next couple of weeks. Due to a faulty furnace we have just enough money for gas to get back and forth to work. Two weeks living on what's in our freezer and pantry. Two weeks of not being able to buy anything in the store. Two weeks of hoping everything stretches far enough. We wanted to use up the meat from our freezer before we started buying meats on sale again, so I guess we will be now.

Dinner tonight isn't a problem...round steak in the crock pot and oatmeal molasses bread. I found both of these recipes on one of my favorite recipe sites-Food has a very diverse collection of recipes and I do enjoy trying them. Some are major flops in the taste department, but some I find myself making some of them time and again. Since the round steak is still in the crock pot cooking as I type this, I'm not sure if that will be one of them, but I'm pretty sure the oatmeal molasses bread will be.

Both of the recipes I got from Food I altered slightly to fit our own personal tastes.

The round steak and gravy I served over mashed potatoes. It turned out like pot roast. It was very good.

The oatmeal molasses bread was phenomenal. I am definitely going to be making this again. Probably once a week or so. It sort of tasted like fresh whole wheat bread. Or so I thought. Hubby thought it tasted like cornbread.

(Links are in the title.)

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Round Steak and Gravy
2 pounds round steak
1 package dry onion soup mix
1/4 cup water
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 medium onion

1. Slice onions thin--I used a mandolin--and place on the bottom of the crock pot.
2. Place round steak on top of onions.
3. Mix the onion soup mix, water, and cream of mushroom soup together and pour over the top of the round steak.
4. Turn crock pot on low and cook for 8 hours.
5. Slice beef and serve onion gravy over meat and mashed potatoes or rice.

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Oatmeal Molasses Quick Bread
**altered to remove raisins, put it in a cake pan, and make one round loaf**
1 cup fat-free buttermilk (homemade)
1/4 cup oats
1/8 cup unsulphured molasses
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups unbleached flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda


1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Combine milk, oats, molasses and oil in a bowl.
3. Measure flours by lightly spooning into measuring cups and leveling with a knife. As you may know, "scooping" flour will cause you to use too much.
4. Whisk or sift together flours, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
5. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir just until combined.
6. Pour into a greased 8-inch round cake pan.
7. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes, then for 15 minutes more at 375°F
8. Let stand about 15 minutes before slicing to serve.