Summer is such a good time to travel, entertain, or splurge on something you wouldn't do any other time of year. Road trips are perfect this time of year. Hosting back yard BBQs is so much fun. And here's one for you: How about a backyard outdoor movie night?

There's only one catch to the above. It's cost. But take heart. If a limited budget is holding you back from putting some extra pizazz into your summer, here's an idea on how you can find "hidden money" (maybe not a boatload, but some, at least) to fund a special activity.

It starts with humble cracked wheat mush. It really helped me stretch the grocery dollar when my family was young and all at home. Cooking for seven children and assorted friends and neighbors was a challenge on our meager income, so I needed every trick I could find.

Cooked cracked wheat cereal came to the rescue more than once. I noticed that its basic flavor was non-descript-it didn't have much. What it did do was take on the flavor of whatever it was paired with. I also noticed that its texture when cooked, was very much like cooked ground beef. That's when it hit me! "Hey," I said to myself, "why don't I extend this 1 pound of ground beef with a couple cups of my leftover cracked wheat mush and see what happens?"

So on Sloppy Joe night, that's just what I did. I mixed 2+ cups of the stuff into my 1 pound of cooked ground beef, added my Sloppy Joe seasoning, the recommended water and tomato sauce, and voila! Dinner for 10 instead of dinner for four.

Well, you can guess how my imagination ran away with me. I saw all sorts of possibilities. I mixed that mush into every cooked ground beef entre I could think of-taco filling, hamburger soup, meatloaf, hamburger stroganoff-this list went on. AND, I even mixed it into tuna and mayonnaise for our sandwiches. And you know what? NO ON EVER KNEW what they were eating. I smile about it to this day. This sneaky trick saved me money and even boosted the nutrition of what we were eating. Heck of a deal!

And by the way, you don't need to buy cracked wheat in the store; you can make your own just using your blender or the food processor. Crack up a quart of wheat berries and store it either in the freezer or fridge (so you don't lose the vitamin K and E). Then just cook up a batch when you want to extend your ground beef.

Now if this is a sleight-of-hand you'd like to try as a way to stretch your grocery dollar, here is the recipe for basic cooked crack wheat cereal. You'll smile all the way to the bank, and no one will even know what they're eating!

Now take that "hidden money" and enjoy a special summer activity, courtesy of a remarkable grocery-budget-stretcher!

Cracked Wheat Cereal

Prep time:
Cook time:
Yield:

Serving size: 2
Calories per serving: 0

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups water
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cracked wheat


Directions:

In a small saucepan, bring water and salt to a boil. Quickly stir in the cracked wheat and continue to stir to prevent lumps. Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Serve with a variety of condiments such as chopped apples, raisins or other dried fruit, brown sugar, honey, cinnamon sugar, coconut, fresh berries or bananas.

NOTE: This cereal can be cooked in a slow cooker overnight. Just double the water and cook on low.

Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.