For the work days: A Hearty, Comfort Food, Bake Dish Potato Casserole II

This one is with meat!  As much as I'm all for being vegetarian friendly, (for both environmental and for cost reasons),  my husband and I do love our meat.  That said, its another week day, so something quick and easy is in order :)

Ingredients:
1             bake potato
1 c          broccoli
1/2          bell pepper
1/16 lb.   Monterey Jack Cheese
2             sausages
seasonings to taste
2 tbs       half&half

Time:
15 min to prep
30 min to bake
45 min total*

Serves: 2 people

*What makes this dish quick is you can do all the prep the morning or even the day before and then just cover it and stick it in the fridge.  Pop it in the oven when you walk in the door, and by the time your ready to eat, dinner is "magically" done!

Directions:

1) Skin the potato.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  If you are going to leave some skin on, then you should make sure the potato is scrubbed extra thoroughly before you start.

2) Chop the potato into slim chunks ( and yes I know that's an oxymoron) and place in the bottom of your 8X6 or 8X8 casserole dish.  If you are making this dish for more than 2 people, then you will need to double all ingredients accordingly and increase the dish size.

3) Add the half&half and turn over the potato pieces to make sure they are all covered.  This is particularly important if you are preparing the dish in advance, as it keeps the potato from browning.  Even if you are preparing this dish in advance, this will make the potato not stick to the bottom of the dish and you still want to add the half&half.  The higher fat content of half&half will make it taste richer, but feel free to substitute.

4) Pre heat the oven to 350. Or do this step at the otherwise appropriate time :)

5) Layer desired veggies and meat.  In this case I fire roasted the bell pepper (and then scrubbed the burned skin off) to give the dish a sweeter taste.  As you've probably noticed, I am a big fan of broccoli.  The sausage does not need to be precooked, and actually works better if you don't!

6) Slice and layer the cheese on the top of the casserole.  Feel free to add seasons of choice.  I chose: Fresh rosemary, dried thyme, black pepper, and a dash of garlic powder.

7) Cover and place in the oven.  Cook for 30 minutes.  Serve hot!

Cost:

bake potato                   $0.50

broccoli                        $0.25

bell pepper                   $0.50

Monterey Jack Cheese $0.80

sausages                       $0.75

half&half                      $0.20

Total                             $3.00
Per person                    $1.50

Channa Masala

With no gluten, MSG, and is GMO free-- Although the whole GMO thing is a bone you don't want me on, as ALL OUR FOOD IS AND HAS BEEN "GMO" since the time civilization arose.

This is going to be a different kind of post because it's kit-based. 

Gourmatra is a good way to introduce yourself to Indain cooking, but is kind of expensive.  The kit here is usually 5.69, although I got it for 2.35.  Kits are great to introduce yourself to something new, but treat them like a crutch you want to be away from as soon as you can :)

Other ingredients:
1 onion
2 small lemons
2 cans of 16 oz Garbonzos beans.
For those who are not familiar with Pulp Fiction, Garbanzos beans are the same thing as Chick Peas...
The box mix
extra rice OR other carb.  I picked tortilla.  Naan will have to be another day.

Traditionally you slice your onions (as pictured on the right) for Indian food, but this is region dependent.  The left is a picture of "chopped" onions.

Pretty much everything but the chick peas goes in the pan along with 3 tbs or more of vegetable oil and you turn the sauce over until "the oil beings to separate." At this point you add the chick peas.  Once the chick peas are warm, you are done!  The directions on the back of the box are somewhat optional but are definitely sufficient!

Time: 30 min to serve

Serves: 3-4 people

Cost: about $3 a person... So not great, but definitely a different experience!

Warning-- The kit says it serves 4 but has enough rice for 1 maybe 2 people...  Definitely be prepared for that! Also, medium heat is pretty hot.  You may want to have milk on hand, or ice cream for desert!

Marsala Chicken

This is one of those (many) Italian dishes that is so much better to make yourself.  And more affordable too!

Ingredients:
1c         white mushrooms, washed and sliced
1c         Marsala wine
4           chicken breasts, or equivalent tenders in weight
1 tsp     oregano
1tbs      basil
1/2 tsp  salt
4 tbs     olive oil
7oz       pasta
1/4c      all purpose flour

Time: 
10 min prep
20 min cooking
30 min total

Serves: 4 people +

There is a lot of flexibility in this dish. Any pasta works-- So just pick your favorite!  I chose "star" pasta for this dish because it's an easy way to give the dish a "thick, hardy taste," which my husband prefers.  Were I making this for just me, I would use whole wheat spiral pasta, as that is my personal favorite. Along those lines, feel free to add more or less seasonings depending on taste. Pepper is very commonly in this dish.  Most of all-- Have fun!!

Direction:

1) Wash and slice the mushrooms-- Never trust that they are "pre-washed" unless you like the idea of literally eating shit.

2) Start the water boiling for the pasta.

3) In a high lipped plate, mix together the flower, salt, oregano, and basil.

4) Coat the thawed chicken in the flour mixture.

5) Place the chicken into a large skillet with the hot olive oil. (Aka, the stove is already on.)

5) Brown the chicken on both sides. This will take a few minutes for each side.

6) Add the mushrooms and cover the skillet.  This will help the mushrooms 'sweat.' This is only to get them started, so don't exceed 5 minutes.

7) Add the pasta to the now boiling water.

8) Add the sherry and cover again. This time cover for 10 minutes.  Interrupt the 10 minutes to turn the chicken over.

9) Uncover the chicken for the final few minutes to thicken the sauce. Add a sprinkling of flour if necessary.

10) Drain the pasta and mix in well with the Chicken Marsala.  Serve warm!

Cost:
white mushrooms     $1.50
Marsala wine            $2.00
chicken                     $2.00
oregano                    $0.10
basil                         $0.35
salt                            $0.02
olive oil                    $0.50
flour                          $0.20
pasta                         $0.25
Total                         $6.92
Per person                $1.73

Asian Fusion Pizza!

So it's a Sunday, and I feel like pizza :)  But not just any pizza: Asian Fusion Pizza with sesame and garlic based sauce topped with Muenster cheese, onions, broccoli, sausage and fresh greens!  Served on a Agave pizza crust!

Ingredients:

The Pizza!
1/4      white onion
1c       grated muenster cheese, ( for finally chopped)
4 tbs   Asian Toasted Seasame Seed Dressing
2-4     sausages, pretty much any kind, cooked
1 1/2c spring greens, washed
1c       fresh broccoli

The Dough!
(This should make you think twice about buying ready made pizza crusts!)
2 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 tbs    agave
1 tsp    salt
1 pkg  quick active dry yeast (or Rapid)
3 tbs   olive oil
1 c.    very warm water
(But no boiling!  Boiling will run the risk of killing the yeast)

Serving: 4 people, easily
Time: 1 hour all in

This recipe will definitely demonstrate what a hodgepodge cooker I am.  If it's in the fridge, it's game to be used!  Point and case, the "sauce" for this pizza is salad dressing-- And it will be amazing!!  Just trust me :)

For recipe involving dough, you always need to read the whole recipe first to know if you need to make the dough first or the 'filling,' so to speak.  Timing is much more important if anything has yeast in it.  There are precise chemical reactions going on to make your food yummy!

For this recipe, and all pizza recipes, start with the dough.

Directions:

1) In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, salt, package yeast, and agave.  Do not mix yet.  There are a lot of pizza recipes out there that get very elaborate at this point.  Although this is an important step, getting fancy doesn't make the dough taste better nor does it make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable.

2) Add the warm water evenly over the top. Slowly pour until you can no longer visibly see the yeast.


3) Mix thoroughly for 5 to 7 minutes.  The dough should be between tacky and stringy at this point.  Add more flour or warm water as necessary.  Be careful with the water-- A little goes a LONG way.

4) Ball the dough loosely in the middle of the bowl and cover loosely with cling wrap.   Do not use a damp cloth unless you hate that cloth-- I have definitely wrecked cloths that way.


5) Set aside for 30 min.  If you aren't ready for dinner just yet, set in the fridge for 3 to 4 hours.

6) Prepare the toppings, including grating or chopping the cheese.

7) This is also a good point to start preheating the oven to 400 degrees.  If thick crust, 375, and if thin crust 425 will work best.

8) Once the dough has more than doubled in size, with floured hands and on a floured surface, work the dough into the round disc everyone associates with pizza!

9) Place the dough on a backing sheet, that has flour or cornmeal spread on it, for easy lift off at the end :)

10) Add the dressing 'sauce' to the dough, and spread around smoothly with the back of a spoon up to 1/4 inch from the edge of the dough.

11) Add cheese and toppings as desired.

12) Bake for 20 min OR LESS.

13) Add the fresh greens to the top of the pizza after slicing.

14) Serve warm!

Cost:

All purpose flour                     $0.50

Agave                                     $0.10

Salt                                          $0.02

Quick active dry yeast            $0.50

Olive oil                                  $0.20

White onion                            $0.25

Muenster cheese                     $0.75

Asian Toasted... Dressing      $0.20

Sausages                                 $1.00

Spring greens                         $0.30

Broccoli                                  $0.20

Total                                       $4.02

Per serving                             $1.00

How much pizza this recipe actually makes!!

The Most Colorful Birthday Cake EVER

This three layer tie-dye Birthday Cake with homemade custard filling and chocolate frosting "takes the cake" for both the best looking and the best tasting birthday cake I have ever enjoyed.  My husband made it for me, so please bare with me through some of the photos, etc. (Disclaimer: Initial idea did come from a box mix.  However, this blog is about how to take that box mix and make it that much more awesome!)

Ingredients:

1        box (Tie tie cake OR white cake)

3        egg (or as box reads)

1/3 c  oil (or as box reads)

food coloring

2 tbs white sugar

2 tbs molasses

1 tbs butter

frosting (or powered white sugar)

8 inch round cake pan (or smaller), or something close to this :) 

Time: 

2 hours total

I have to say, although my role was more supervision on this one-- Just watching this cake get made was a blast!  Feel free to have fun with it, as there will never be another cake like it-- even if all your cakes are tie-dye from this day forth! A nice thing about this particular cake is that quickly getting the batter into the oven is not as important.  So make sure to relax and enjoy the fun :)

Directions:

1) Make up the cake as instructed EXCEPT, do not include the yoke of the egg.  An easy way to do this is to crack the egg without letting the inside of the egg fall into the bowl.  Then, over a bowl, pass the egg yoke back and forth between the two shells until nearly all of the translucent "whites" of the egg are in the bowl, and the yoke is still in one of the shell halves.  Set the yokes aside for now.

2) Preheat the oven to 350.

3) Divide the cake batter into 5 (or more) bowls. 

4) Mix in food coloring to make intense colored batter. Go heavier rather than lighter on the food coloring.  And feel free to get creative!  The purple on the right was a good five minute project for my husband as he got it 'just right.'

5) Add about a third of all the batter colors to your greased 8 inch round pan.  If you don't have an 8 nice round pan, a small crock pot dish also works well! (Featured above.)  Make sure to pour in one place for each color, so that batter color can sink to the bottom of the cake.

6) Bake each round for 30 minutes.  If you only have one pan, wait ten minutes before removing the baked cake layer from the pan.

7) Repeat 4 through 6 for the other two layers!

8) While you are making the layers of the cake, you can start on the filling: Take the three egg yokes, two tbs molasses, 2 tbs white sugar, and 1 tbs butter.  If inclined, add a 1/4 tsp of orange extract as well.  In a small double broiler, beat the custard mixture continuously over low heat.  If you don't have a double broiler, then put the ingredients in a small metal mixing bowl, and the water (for the broiler) in a small pot. Balance the metal bowl in the small pot that is 1/3 filled with water.  No mater what you use to this, mix continually! 

9) Once all bake layers are baked and cooled, it's time to construct the cake.  One whatever dish you will be serving the cake, place the first round.  Add 1/2 of your custard mixture to the top.  Then add your next round and repeat.  After the last round is on top-- It's frosting time! You can use a pre made mix, (like I said my husband was doing this one), or you can make the frosting.  As this is a budget friendly blog, I recommend making it.  Just combine well 1/4 cup butter and 3 cups powdered sugar.  Add coloring or flavorings of choice to that.  Some butter frostings have milk, but I find the frosting is stiffer without it.

10)  Add the sprinkles!  This is a very important step :D

11) Sever up!

Cost:

box cake mix     $3

egg                    $0.60

oil                      $0.10

food coloring    $0.20

white sugar       $0.20

molasses           $0.45

butter                $0.25

frosting             $3.00 or less

Total                 $7.80

The Chef at his best!

A very happy birthday to me :)

Even the crumbs are fun!

Smokey Chicken Alfredo

Without the smoke!

This is a quick and easy meal that has never failed to trick every person I have ever served it to-- People assume either various (much more expensive) ingredients are in it that are not, or they assume I spent hours making it (which I definitely did not).  So if you are looking for a really easy and fast way to make a fantastic meal: This is it!!

Ingredients:

2         Chicken breasts

7 oz    Shell pasta

3/4 jar Alfredo sauce

2/3 c   Frozen peas

1 tbs   Fresh rosemary

1/2     of a white onion 

Time:

30 min to table!

I would like to add that you can do this "trick" to most pasta dishes (see #  from the directions.)  Also, the way you present this meal does make a difference.  If you slop it in a bowl and say "I'm tired and done..." Everyone will assume it's a box mix.  Is you plate-it-proper and serve it with a small side of red wine-- People will assume you spent hours getting meal prepared.  It's just one of those tricks that are part of the meal-- After all, the meal starting with the eyes.  :)

Directions:

1) Set up the kitchen.  Start the water boiling for the pasta, oil or butter the pan for the chicken, and get the plates heating for the finish!

2) After the oil is hot in the pan, place the chicken breasts, frozen or fresh directly into the pan.  This is one of those meals that no one will ever know the difference. 

3) Add the chopped onions to the pan.  Note: Usually you cook onions first as they take a long time to "sweat-out."  Part of the smokey is that the onions are more done on the outside than the inside.  You want them to be slightly crunchy by the end of the meal.  If you are concerned about the chicken, especially if you are using fresh chicken, just wait to add the onions but you will want to microwave them a few minutes first...

4)  After about ten minutes of watching the pan, flip the chicken and add the frozen peas.  The peas can be clumped.  You do not want to over cook the peas, so the later you add them the better.  (No English food here!!)       

5) Once the chicken is close to fully cooked, add the Alfredo sauce.  People are scared, rightly so, of chicken, but consequently they WAY overcook it. The pan is still hot, the chicken is still cooking, just relax and enjoy the cooking experience! If you are someone who knows you are paranoid about chicken, add the sauce about 3 min. before you want to.  If you are someone who does not know what I'm talking about right now, add the Alfredo sauce when you normally would.

6) Add the pasta to the now boiling water to start cooking.  This means you are 12 minutes from serving to the table!

7) This is the important step! Work the pan with a spatula to get the slightly brown bits of the pan from the onions etc into the sauce. You need a good spatula for this-- But by the time you are done, this should be the easiest pan in the world to clean because EVERYTHING is in the sauce!  For this reason you must add the Alfredo sauce cold to the hot pan.  

8) Work the pan for about 5 minutes.  This just means to continually move all of the contents of the pan around, making sure to scrap the bottom of the pan each time.

9) Add your now cooked and drained pasta to the pan of sauce and chicken directly!

10) Mix well and plate up!  Don't forget the beverage (Wine or otherwise :) )

 Cost:

$2         Chicken breasts

$0.25    Shell pasta  

(Seriously, if you are paying more, you should look into making your own!)

$2         Alfredo sauce

$1         Frozen peas

$0.10    Fresh rosemary

$0.50    White onion           

$5.85 total (serves 2)

Apple Cobbler: The Chocolatized Family Recipe Edition!

(And yes I made up the word chocolatized, 

but it should be a word 

so we are just going to roll with it...)

This recipe will be a side-by-side edition, featuring both the "traditional" and the "chocolatized." Think of it as the Yin and Yang of awesome comfort food deserts!

Ingredients:

Apples (for an eight inch round you will need 12+ small or 7 large sized)

1/2 cup uncooked rolled oats

1/4 cup of unsalted butter

1/3 cup white or brown sugar

And that is it!!

Time: 10 min to prepare

           30 min to bake

             5 min to cool before serving

           45 min TOTAL

So this is definitely one of those deserts that you can stick in the oven and then walk away from to enjoy dinner with your family, friends, and or guests.  As it is the end of the season, I would also like to point out that this recipe is great for apples just past their prime!  It also makes a great breakfast the next day, even cold out of the fridge, just sayin'.

Directions:

1) ALWAYS start with washing your apples.  I don't care where they came from, they should be washed.

2) Chop up desired amount of apples to fill your baking sheet 2/3 full when the apples are loosely packed.

3)Add desired alterations: This is the chocolatizing step!  I recommend adding a 1/4 to a 1/2 lb of walnut dark chocolate fudge to the dish.  Just make 1/2 inch cubes of the fudge and spread it around the dish.

4) Pre-melt the butter with a quick 10 seconds int eh microwave.  Repeat as necessary to reach a mostly melted puddle of butter.  You do not want to burn the butter so better to stop early than late!

5) Add the oats and sugar directly to the butter.  (The less dishes the better the desert!)  Note:  If you have carb loving guest, you can double the crust by just doubling everything that goes into the crust only, aka the butter oats and sugar.



6) Mix crust mixture well with a fork.  The oats should all have a slightly glossy look to them and the sugar should have no dry spots.  After that, it will all even out in the bake :)

7) "Fork" the crust mixture over the top of the apples. All apples to not need to be covered. (See image below.)

8) Bake at 325 degrees for 30 min, or until a light cripsy brown on top.  The apples should be bubbling when you take it out!

9) Let cool before serving! Five minutes is fine.

10) Serve: Al-la-mode or in a milk float or just straight up-- It's a "whatever makes you feel warm and comfy" kind of meal.


Cost:
$3      Apples
$1      Butter
$0.25 Oats
$0.25 Sugar         
$4.50 total 
(Unless add chocolate which usually adds about a buck.)

Delicious, delicious Yin and Yang Apple Cobbler!!!