Marbled Quiche with Potato Crust

Although the name "cobalt" may make you think of blue, this quiche is pretty much all the warm colors that warm colors could be ;)  Quick, easy, cheap, and transports well-- Quiche is another one of those meals for the weeknight that make you feel like you are living in style while on a budget!  It then transports well to work the next day for lunch as well :)

Ingredients:
filling
12 eggs
2c marbled cheese chopped
1/2c broccoli, fresh or frozen
2c celery, chopped
crust
1/2c potato flakes
1/2c flour
1/5c water
1tbs oil

Time: 
                    12 min to prepare
                    45 min to cook        
Total            about an hour

Serves: 8+ servings


Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2) Combine all the filling ingredients in a mixing bowl, and mix until all the ingredients are well coated with the broken eggs.

3) Mix the crust in another bowl, (or right in the mixing cup as pictured to the left and right)! You can easily mix the crust with a fork.

4) With your fingers, coat the bottom of all the future quiche pans with a thin layer for the crust mixture.  Take you time- There is no baking soda in this recipe!  If you run out of crust, you can make more.   You do want the bottom covered, or serving could be difficult.

5) Add the filling mixture to the dishes and pop in the oven! I like to keep the cheese chunky, because as it cooks the cheese will darken first, giving the finished result of a marbled look-- To go with the cheese!

6) Bake for 45 min, or until above mentioned marbled look is achieved.  Serve hot or chilled!

Cost:
eggs                $3.00
cobalt cheese  $2.00
broccoli           $0.50
celery              $0.50
potato flakes  $0.50
flour               $0.50
oil                   $0.10   
Total              $5.10
Per serving     $0.63

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!!

Pumpkin Ravioli in Home-Made Cheese-Potato Sauce with Broccoli Florets

 Just in time for fall! This is a quick and colorful meal that also happens to be well balanced :)

Ingredients:
1  package pumpkin ravioli (available at Costco)
1/2 bag frozen broccoli
1 cup hard white cheese of choice ( recommend: Jarlsberg) grated
3 red potatoes
2 tbs oil ( or bacon grease if so inclined)
1/4 cup milk (reduced milk works better than non-fat milk)

Estimated time: 30 min
Serves 4

So I'm going to make an effort to talk more about the food as there is clearly more to it than throwing some stuff you bought in a pot.  This meal is actually one of my favorite quick-and-easy dishes because 1) It's quick and easy, 2) It's reasonably healthy, 3) It's vegetarian friendly, 4) It stores super well!, and 5) It's easy to adjust to whatever you currently have in your fridge.

Also, my husband has recently quite smoking (YAY!) and broccoli is not only a great source of protein, calcium, and fiber-- Broccoli is also partially good at cleansing you of toxins, specifically including those from cigarette.

Directions:

1) Cook the potatoes.  I prefer boiling them in a pot of water, but that takes longer than microwaving them so it's up to your time schedule.  You will know when the potatoes are done because you will be able to easily stick a fork into them. At that point, let the potatoes cool to the point you can slice them up comfortably.

2) Boil water for the pasta.  Add at pinch of salt (to increase the temperature at which the water boils) and a dash of oil, any kind of oil but I use olive oil, (to help the pasta not stick to itself while it's cooking).

3) Place cooked and sliced potatoes into a bowl and pour the milk over the potatoes. This will keep the potatoes from browning AND will give the potatoes a creamy taste that is oh-so-good!  Let soak at least 7 minutes.

4) To a sauce pan, add the bacon grease to liberally coat the bottom of the pan.Then add the grated cheese. The harder the cheese the more time you will need to give the cheese alone to get "sweated."  Basically, you are just softening up the cheese, which you will know you have done by the limping texture of the cheese, or on thicker pieces, but the droplets of oil that are escaping from the cheese.

5) Add the butter soaked potatoes slices and broccoli to the sauce pan and stir well.  Keep an eye on your sauce pan and stir as needed, which will be often.

Note: If you are using fresh broccoli you may want to pre-steam if for 5-10 minutes.  You can do this in a third pan with some water and and a lid, already brought to boil before the broccoli is added OR in a bowl in the microwave with a WET paper towel placed on top.  Just remember, broccoli is one of those foods that looses it's victims when cooked throughly.

6) Add the pasta to the boiling water.  Let cook 10 min. With the Costco brand, I find the ravioli falls apart if you cook it longer than this...

7) Drain the pasta. Add your broccoli and cheesy potatoes to the pasta.  Mix well. Serve hot!

Definitely feel free to season to taste!  I usually ad basil (because it's my husband favorite), pepper, and cayenne pepper (because tis' mild for a pepper but makes everything look so tasty!).  An easy way to increase the serving size is to add more potatoes and broccoli.

Cost:

Package pumpkin ravioli   $4 (for one of the two jointed packages from Costco)

1/2 bag frozen broccoli      $1.50

hard white cheese              $1

3 red potatoes                    $0.50

oil                                      $0.10

milk                                   $0.15                                              

Total                                 $7.25

Per Serving                      $1.81

Ginger, Caramelized Onion (and Chicken) Quesadilla with Pineapple Salsa!

The definition of inexpensive gourmet food!

Ingredients:
6      Tortillas      
1      White onion  (large)
6 tbs Chopped ginger
2 tbs Rice vinegar
1 tbs Aged balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Steak seasoning
3 cups Jarlsberg grated cheese
1/2 jar Pineapple salsa
1 tbs Olive oil
(3 chicken breasts)

Total time: 20 min
Serves: 6 

Mixture of sweated onions, ginger,
balsamic vinegar and CHEESE!

Directions:
1) Chop whole white ion ion and ginger finally together.

2) Sweat onions and ginger in rice vinegar and olive oil. (Or Butter for the less health conscious.)

3) Season to taste with recommend 1/2 steak seasoning, and sweat 5 more minutes.

4) Drizzle aged balsamic vinegar over the sweated onions and ginger, and let cool. ( This is to soak up the delicious balsamic vinegar!)

5) Added cooled onions and ginger to large mixing bowl with grated cheese, ( and chicken cooked with 1/2 tbs steak seasoning, if desired.)

6) Add final mixture to tortillas. ( In the pictures the are done in halves only to maintain versatility for each person. This also makes it easier to flip.)

7) Brown quesadilla in heat pan with olive oil and serve warm!  Top with salsa of choice-- Pineapple Salsa pictured below is recommend ;)

The reason I will NEVER recommend microwaving
anything is pictured to the right--->

THIS is a properly brown quesadilla! 

If pineapple salsa is not available in your area, pick a mild salsa and and extra chopped canned pineapple chunks to it-- it's pretty much the same thing :)

Cost:

Tortillas                           $2

White onion  (large)        $1

Chopped ginger              $1

Rice vinegar                   $0.30

Aged balsamic vinegar   $0.25

Steak seasoning              $0.10

Jarlsberg grated cheese   $2

Pineapple salsa               $1

Olive oil                         $0.10

(3 chicken breasts)         $2            

Total                              $9.75

Per serving: $1.62, WITH chicken :)

Alternative "Gateway Sushi"!!!

To convert even the most resistant meat eaters to the way of bait!!

Warning: This post is for the adventurous!! 

 So making sushi itself is a lot easier than any recipe I've seen has made it look. This is assuming you are not interested in single handedly perfecting the true art of sushi.

1)Make a pot or rice, (doesn't really matter what kind).
2) Cut up veggies of choice into long slivers. Carrots, cucumber, even lemon peels work great!
3) Mix the rice with some salt, sugar, and rice vinegar so that is is malleable.  If you add to much-- just smush it in your hand to drain off extra liquid.  It really is that simple!
4) Keep a small bowl of rice vinegar and sugar to the side to "rinse" your ands with in-between rolls.
5) Lay out a small strip of rice onto sushi sea weed sheets. Lay on top of the desired ingredients.  Salmon (Sake) or meatloaf-- I'm a believer in happy customers of all kinds!
6) Roll up the rolls nice and tight.  Notice I have not given any proportions-- it really REALLY doesn't matter as long as you like it.
7) "Seal" your roll with just a touch of the vinegar mixture you have to the side.  Think of it like an envelope.
8) With a very sharp knife, cut the roll in to sushi size pieces.  Make presentable to serve!

 Green tea or Sake (the booze) will bring the experience together no matter what you've made.

 For homemade pickled ginger-- plan ahead-- that does take a good 24 hours to make right, and 4 hours at the minimum. Basically chop the ginger as thinly as possible and then soak it in a bowled (and now cooling) mixture of rice vinegar, a lot of sugar, a pinch of salt, and water.  Chill overnight in the fridge if you can.

This is the happiest first time sushi eater I have ever seen-- Otherwise known as my father.  After years of trying futilely to convince him to eat sushi-- Brown rice, low salt, and meatloaf sushi is the success story!

Hence I really truly believe in doing whatever works for you :)
I also really truly believe in buying the Wasabi...

Rice about         $1
Sushi sheets      $1-7 (depending on where you live)
filling                $1-20 (depending on your tastes)
Rice vinegar     $1.50-7.00 (depending on where you live)
sugar and salt    $1 or less                                                      
                         $5 to $$$... it's all up to you....

Adventures in Quinoa: Pasta Substitute Time!

As promised: Californian Summer Pasta with Chicken

(Except with Quinoa ;) )

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts 

1 avocado

1 lemon

3 oranges

1/4 cup orange liquor

fresh rosemary, thyme, black pepper, etc

2 cup quinoa

1 large tomato (Or several small ones as pictured here.)

Directions:

Heat the 2 oranges of juice and two oranges of zest in large frying pan.  Add chopped seasons and pepper, one lemon of juice, and the orange liquor to the pan. Heat sauce on low and then add thawed chicken breast, (2 and cut in half to serve 4 people or you can add 4 whole beasts), to the pan. Cover until the chicken is cooked.  In the mean time, add 2 cups of Quinoa to 4 cups of boiling water.  Add more water as needed. Plate and place chicken breast on top.  Add the fresh avocado-- and any food art desired--Serve hot!  The third orange is for garnish, as you may have noticed--

Serves 4!

Cost:

chicken           $1.99

oranges           $1.00

lemon              $0.50

avocado          $1.00

Quinoa           $1.00

spices/etc.       $0.25     

Total cost:      $5.75

So less than $1.50 a person for this meal.. and it's looks and tastes gourmet!

Time to prepare is thirty minutes, and it makes a great Mother's Day meal ;)

Pinterst: Inspiring (cheap) ways to keep life exciting!

$5 Party Winner:

So it's pot luck time but pre-pay check time...  I saw an image on Pinterst for what I have started calling "Muffin-Tacos."  And that is exactly what they are: Filling finger food with endless possibilities.  They are easy to make, easy to transport, easy to serve, and cheap.  This is otherwise known as PERFECT.  From several sample points I can also say with high confidence they are very popular.

Directions:
As evident by the backing sheet, the recipe makes 12.  This fills a large plate nicely, considering presentation matters.  Oven is set to 350 degrees and the whole process takes about 20 minutes!

1) Soak beans of choice over night (about 3/4 cup).  Or purchase a can of beans--Depending on how health conscious you are
2) Start by cutting a large tortillas into four smaller circles  (The top of a large yoga container works well as a 'cookie-cutter.' See the blog on Inventive Cooking Techniques for more details.)
3) Tuck the cut tortillas into the muffin tin to create a pocket
4) Spoon large dollop of beans into the bottom of the pocket
5) Add a couple slices of avocado (At this point it should look similar to the picture on the right.)
6) Immediate spoon large dollop of salsa on the avocado (If for some reason you are delayed/life happens-- make sure to squeeze some lemon on the avocado so it doesn't brown.)
7) Add cheese layer--- And back until the cheese is melted!

Sever hot, and toast to re-heat.  That's all there is to it!

As it turns out:

$0.75 one avocado

$0.50 less than half a bag of Pinto beans, etc.

$0.50 slices of hard cheese (preferably white)

$1.50 half a jar of spicy salsa (red or green)

$1.00 three large tortillas (soft)                                                        

$4.25 TOTAL 

~And let the party begin~

Costco Cooking: The Sour Cream

Buying in bulk saves you money... But only if it doesn't spoil before you eat it...

So how to keep life interested, and buy at discount while only feeding two people at a time?  Point and case, the sour cream container from Costco is THREE pounds.  Additionally, keeping life interesting means not having tacos every night.  As we are currently in the Olympics--I thought a sampling of cuisine was in order. And once the container is open, the clock is ticking, so:

1) White Beef Stroganoff  (Russian)

2) Fajitas!  (Mexican-ish... apparently it's more Tex-Mex)

3) Pumpkin Bolani (Afghan)

Image complements of Google

4) Panini with dipping sauce (Italian, mostly)

5) Red Beef Stroganoff!

...And with that, the THREE pounds of sour cream were actually gone... Incase you prefer a different variety of cultures, below are the remainder of the list as was planned:

6) Meatballs in Sour Cream Sauce (Swedish)

7) Corn Chowder (US, and because I love corn chowder)

Got guests? Got budget? $2.00 per person for dinner

So the only thing I seem to have less of than money is time.
The challenge:  Cook dinner for four people,  for three days, under $25 TOTAL, and in less than 2 hours TOTAL. Oh, and the food has to be pretty.

Challenge accepted!

Saturday:
Turkey stuffed bell peppers with a side of roasted asparagus

Serves: Easily 4 people. 

Prep time: 
20 min to pan fry all 'inner' ingredients
40 min to bake                                       
1hr TOTAL

Shopping list:
1 package ground turkey
1 package mushrooms, whatever one's are you favorite/on sale
1 1/2 cup frozen broccoli
1 cup frozen corn
3-4 bell peppers, pick your favorite colors
1 small bundle asparagus
Monterey cheese, or a somewhat hard white cheese of your choice
1 egg
1 slice of toast

In case you can't tell, I believe in opportunistic cooking!

Things I'm assuming you have on hand:
olive oil
pepper
basil, oregano, or really whatever you like here
red pepper
salt, always to taste
a bottle of chilled white wine, always to taste

Instructions:
1) Open the bottle of wine and pour a glass
2) Pan fry the ground turkey, pulling apart in to mouth-size-bits. in other words, you want a chunk on the end of the fork.  Butter would also work here, but I tend to use olive oil, (or bacon grease).
3) Season to taste, preferably heavy on the pepper, and just a dash of red pepper for kick!
4) Add the slivered mushroom and 1/4 cup of white wine if desired. Allow to steam for 5 minutes with the lid on.
5) Then add the broccoli and corn and cook another 5 minutes to evaporate some of the liquid off.
6) Meanwhile, prepare the washed bell peppers.  I put them long ways so to be able to uses both halves without having to include the steam of the bell pepper--although this does make them more difficult to stuff.
**) Put half of the pan ingredients into a left-over container-- It's for Monday night!
7) Turn off the the stove and let sit (3 min) so as not to cook the egg.
8) Add one egg and one slice of toast, chopped up, directly to the pan.  No extra dishes!
9) Stir everything together.  You now have you 'inner' ingredients.
10) Stuff the bell peppers.  The mushrooms may not be cooked all the way-- that's fine.
11) Top with cheese and place on a baking sheet.
12) Lay the washed and snapped asparagus on the other half of the same baking sheet and drizzle olive oil and salt/pepper to taste.  It's okay for everything to get cozy.
13) Bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 325. Serve hot.
14) Get back to that wine-- It's a Saturday night!

Cost:

$2.50          ground turkey

$2.00          mushrooms

$0.75          broccoli 

$0.75          corn

$3.00          bell peppers

$1.50          asparagus 

$0.75          cheese

$0.20          egg

$0.60          slice of toast

$12.05

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday:

Lemon-Mustard Steel Head

Serves: Easily 4 people. 

Prep time: 

7 min to prep

20 min to bake                                       

27 min TOTAL

Shopping list:

1 package of steel head fish (or salmon but steel head is cheaper.)

white rice

1/2 package of peas

1 lemon

Things I'm assuming you have on hand:

butter

pepper

basil, oregano, or really whatever you like here

red pepper

salt, always to taste

mustard

Instructions:

1) Start the rice. As you will only be using half of it tonight, I'm recommending three cups or rice with double that in water. 

2) On a sheet of aluminum foil, lay out slices of lemon.

3) Lay the fish on top of the lemon and season to taste.  Rosemary is amazing on this one!

4) Drible mustard on top of the fish and baste the fish with a back of the spoon.  A sweet mustard works best, such as apple honey mustard or champagne mustard.

5) Fold foil over the fish and roll to seal. Bake for 20 minutes at 350.

6) Meanwhile, melt 1/8 cup of butter in sauce pan.

7) Add peas and seasonings to taste.  Cook until just warm, with constant stirring.  You want the peas to maintain their firmness to counter the softer textures of the rest of the dish.

8) When the rice is done, you are done-- Serve hot!

Cost:

$8.00          fish

$1.00          rice

$0.50          lemon

$1.00          peas            

$10.50        TOTAL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday:

Turkey Stir-Fry!

Serves: 4 people.  (Adjust rice proportion if necessary.)

Prep time: 

20 min stir fry time

20 min TOTAL

Shopping list:

NOTHING-- It's a Monday, who want's to go to the store ;P

Things I'm assuming you have on hand:

oil

pepper

soy sauce

sesame seed oil (optional but amazing!)

red pepper

Sriracha or other hot sauce 

salt, always to taste

Instructions:

1) Add yesterday's rice to a hot pan with about 1/4 cup of oil in it.  Canola oil is recommend.

2) Go heavy handed on the seasons, but light on the soy sauce-- it's salt heavy.  

3) Drizzle the sesame seed oil on top of the rice and turn over the rice continuously.

4) Add in the 'inner' ingredients of turkey and continue to season to taste.

5) Serve up and dash of Sriracha on top, to complete the look.  Serve with chop sticks.

Cost:

At this point you have spent a couple dollars in seasonings and oil over three days.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Total time: 1 hour and 47min

Total cost: $22.55, plus seasonings