Should You Really Have a Party When You're Broke?....Yeah, Duh!

There are a lot of things in life to skimp on. There are things you can really live without. My favorite example is one that Suze Orman said long ago: Women, you don't need to buy candles unless your power's out. I'm paraphrasing and she gets on my LAST nerve, but she has a point. We do buy a lot of crap. I know I do. Then I wonder why I'm broke. I've got a better handle on things now but I still end up in the stationary aisle of whatever store looking at journals and pretty paper that I'll never use. Why? Cause it's not 1933 anymore and we don't have to have paper and pen to share an idea.

I say this to say, while we could skip the stationary aisle, there are some things that I refuse to refuse. One of them is hosting parties. I LOVE having people over and I LOVE cooking for them. We don't have to be doing anything more than having a Breaking Bad marathon. Food and friends just go together so perfectly. But what do you do when you're down to pennies in your account? I want to share a recipe that I use to feed an army for pennies. Now this isn't a big pot of pasta. That's boring, fattening and everyone will know you're flat broke. No, this one will make everyone think you're flush and fancy. Check it out:





Mini Reubens and Mom's fries

1 point cut corned beef (Aldi always has it) Most expensive item in the recipe. Don't pay more than $15 MAX more like $10
1 loaf no name bakery rye bread. Can usually get this at a local store, not a chain $2
1 can of sauerkraut $1
1 bottle Thousand Island dressing Get the generic small bottle $1-2
1 5lb bag of potatoes russet or new $2
1 stick of butter (Another thing you should never skimp on)
1 lbs package of swiss cheese Try to get slices but if you have to go with shredded for the cost savings it won't matter much

Reubens

In a large dutch oven, place the corned beef and enough water to just cover the meat. Place on the back burner of your stove and turn the heat on high to bring to a boil, then very low and let simmer.

While the meat is simmering, start your next step which is the bread. Take out your griddle and place it on the stove or if you have an electric griddle, plug it in and start the heat high for now. Open your bread bag and take out each slice and lightly butter both sides. Set them on a plate until your griddle is hot. Once the griddle is hot, turn the heat down to medium and toast each slice of rye bread. Once one side is toasted, turn and do the other side. Depending on the size of your grill, you can do two or more slices at a time. You want a nice golden color to your bread. Once they're done, set them on a plate and start the next batch. Do the entire loaf. For a good size loaf you should at least get twelve slices of bread.

Next step, open your can of sauerkraut and drain it very well. Use a sifter or colander and try to get as much water out of it as you can. If not the bread gets very wet and it's kind of gross. Once drained, set the sauerkraut on a plate or bowl and set aside.

Get your cheese and Thousand Island dressing ready. You want to start a little assembly line: toasted rye, Thousand Island, cheese, sauerkraut and finally corned beef.

Your corned beef should be fully heated through by now. Take the meat out and place it on your cutting board. Cover it with tin foil and let it rest while you get your assembly line ready. After about 5 mins, begin slicing the meat, against the grain to get nice long, thin slices. Place the slices on a plate and start assembling.

First take a slice of bread, spread a light layer of Thousand Island, then a slice of cheese, place the meat and then the sauerkraut on another slice you should have at least six slices each of matching, meat & sauerkraut and thousand and cheese. Match the two sides together. The sandwiches are then cut into 4s. Once lengthwise and then width-wise. Place the mini Reubens on a nice platter. For presentation, you can dress the platter with lettuce leaves and maybe a few grape tomatoes or whatever you have on hand.

Mom's Fries

Hopefully by now you're saving your bacon grease. If you're not, you can use vegetable oil but it's really not the same in this recipe but you can certainly make it work.

In a large skillet, it's important it's in a skillet not a deep fryer, heat about 2 cups of oil, preferably bacon fat. While the oil is heating, peel all the potatoes in your 5lb bag. You don't have to get religious about it, but peel as much of the peel as you can. Slice the potatoes lengthwise into steak fries size portions. Once the potatoes are cut, check your oil and turn down the heat to about medium. Add the fries a bit at a time. Russets take longer than new potatoes but you can expect to leave them in the oil for 5-8 minutes. To test if they're done, take a fork and pierce them while they're in the oil. If they are falling apart, good. If your fork meets some resistance, give them a bit more heat. Cook all the potatoes the same way, a bit at a time. Don't overload your skillet trying to get them done, they take way too long and because they're all different sizes, some will be done and others will be raw so take your time.

The Reubens don't have to be hot, in fact they're better at room temperature. The hot beef should melt the cheese just enough, but if for some reason you feel like it needs more heat. Put the minis in an oven safe pan and turn the oven on WARM. Don't turn the heat up too high or you'll have a mess and the meat will dry out. This should keep them nice and warm while you're doing mom's fries and then serve and party on.