Author Archive
Chicken Liver & Heart Adobo
This is a modified Filipino dish made with common ingredients. The use of flour is the out of place ingredient from the authentic recipe.
Ingredients
- 500 grams chicken liver, (1 lb)
- 500 grams chicken hearts, (1 lb)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons cooking oil, divided
- 4-5 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- ½ cup light soy sauce
- ¾ cup water
- 4-6 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- 2 spring onions, sliced, for garnish
Instructions
- Rinse the liver and hearts, cut the livers in half and trim the hearts, prep the garlic, spring onions, and measure out the liquids. For the liver, I used 700 grams and 300 grams of hearts, if you don't like hearts, just use more liver. If you want to use gizzards, parboil those for about 30-60 minutes before continuing with the recipe.
- Add the flour to a shallow dish and mix in the salt and garlic powder.
- Heat a large non stick pan with 2 tablespoons of the cooking oil. When hot, coat the liver and hearts in flour and add to the pan, cooking the liver for 2 minutes per side, for the hearts, just kind of scoot them around the pan and remove those when you remove the liver to a plate, work in batches until all the hearts and liver are browned. They are cooked more in another step. I did this in three batches as I use a wok pan, simply grabbing a handful of liver and hearts, coating with flour, then coating more while the first batch was cooking.
- Just cook until browned a bit, not looking to cook through or you will have dry liver, remove from the pan, add a bit more oil if needed, and cook another batch, until all is browned.
- Same pan, add the other 2 tablespoons of oil and the garlic, stir, cooking the garlic until it is just brown and fragrant.
- Add the liver and hearts back to the pan, and add the soy sauce and water, stir to mix, let this come to a boil then add the bay leaves and peppercorns.
- Reduce heat to a simmer and cover for 15-20 minutes, this will cook the liver and hearts through, and the flour will make for a thicker sauce.
- Now add the vinegar, stir and bring back to a boil. Stirring often and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat, remove the bay leaves.
- Serve with hot cooked rice of your choice.
Notes
The liver will cost about 66 Baht/500 grams, the hearts will be about 30 Baht/500 grams. For 6 servings, this is about 52 cents per serving.
Tomato & Onion Salad II
Basic healthy salad.
Ingredients
- 1 cup onion, halved then thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup tomato, halved then sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1-3 teaspoons lemon or lime juice, depending on taste
Instructions
- Toss everything together in a mixing bowl, serve as a side and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Garlic Brown Lentil Dal (Pressure Cooker)
This is an Indian inspired recipe for dal as there is no major spices used. This will use a pressure cooker as well as a pan on the stove top. I will be using my 9 liter (9½ quart), 12 psi (80 kPa) stove top pressure cooker. Follow all safety precautions for your model of pressure cooker.
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole brown lentils
- water, as needed
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 6 cloves garlic, divided
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, divided
- 1 teaspoon salt, and to taste
- ¼ cup ghee, or 2 tablespoons oil AND 2 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup onion, thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds, or ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- hot cooked rice, for serving
Instructions
- Rinse the lentils, place in a mixing bowl and cover with 1 inch of water, set aside to soak for 2 hours.
- When you are ready to cook, first let's prep the onion and garlic. Mince 2 cloves of garlic and toss those into the pressure cooker. Thinly slice 4 cloves of garlic and set those aside, then thinly slice the onion and set that aside.
- Drain and rinse the lentils, place them in your pressure cooker. Add ¼ teaspoon of red pepper flakes to the pressure as well. Add 4 cups of water and the oil to the pressure cooker.
- Place the lid on and lock, add the weight (jiggler), turn on high heat. when the jiggler starts to move and vent pressure, start timing for 7 minutes, and reduce heat to low or medium low to just keep the jiggler moving and venting. Time for 6 minutes for firmer lentils, and if using lentils you have had in your pantry for a long time, you may want to increase the time 8 minutes. When the time is up, turn off the heat and move the pressure cooker to an unused burn to allow a natural pressure release, meaning just let it set and cool until you have indications there is zero pressure inside the cooker.
- While the lentils are cooking (and releasing pressure), heat the ghee in a non stick pan on medium heat, when hot, add the onion and cook, stir often, for 3-4 minutes and let the onion start to brown.
- Add the garlic, cumin seeds, and another ¼ teaspoon of red pepper flakes, cook while stirring for another 2-3 minutes or until the garlic is fragrant.
- When the pressure is released from the pressure cooker and it is safe to open, remove the lid and stir the lentils.
- Add the onion mixture, ghee and all, into the lentils, stir to mix everything, stir in the salt. Taste and season with additional salt as needed.
- Serve over hot cooked rice with a salad on the side. Enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Chicken & Rice Noodle Soup
Asian soups are very easy to prepare and I come up with this soup on a whim. Not only is it good, the family loved it! And it is healthy.
Ingredients
- 1 quart bean broth, (4 cups)
- 1 quart water
- 2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 package baby corn, chopped, about 8-9 ears
- 1 package fresh Shimeji mushrooms, roots removed, separated
- 2-3 spring onions, chopped 1/2 inch pieces, white and green
- 1-2 bunches fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 package dry wide rice noodles, 220 gram package
- white pepper, as desired
- hard boiled eggs, as needed, for serving, 1 per bowl
- fried wonton skins, for garnish, as desired
Instructions
- This is the rice noodle brand I used for this, Chuan Chim brand, blue pack, which is the wide noodles. This is a Thai product available at Tesco. Excellent noodles.
- Heat the broth and water in a pot until boiling, add the chicken and reduce heat to a simmer. Skim any foam from the broth.
- Simmer for about 5 minutes then add the carrot and corn. Simmer for another 10 minutes or until the carrot is just tender.
- Add the rice noodles. The noodles are white in the package, when you add them to the hot broth, first they will look like spaghetti, give the noodles a stir to get them separated.
- As the noodles cook, they will swell, turn white again, and they take on the flavor of the broth. Continue to simmer until the noodles are just barely tender.
- Add the mushrooms, spring onion, and cilantro, simmer until the noodles are tender, about 5 more minutes. Remove from heat.
- The completed soup, the noodles are tender and flavorful, the chicken is tender and juicy. Perfect.
- Ladle soup into bowls, add a hard boiled egg, sliced in half, yolks up, and add 2-3 fried wonton skins on the side of the soup as garnish as desired, serve hot. Enjoy.
Notes
The noodles are 35 Baht for a pack of 220 grams, the chicken is 57 Baht/kilo, for 2 breasts I will say 50 Baht max. For 4 servings this is about 70 cents per serving.
Created on a whim using common soup making principles in Thailand, Lee Thayer.
Thailand.
Thailand.
Seasoned Oyster Crackers
This is a great sounding snack cracker or addition for a nice chili or soup. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 2 packages oyster crackers, 12 oz each
- 3/4 - 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dried dill
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 packet dry ranch dressing mix, (Shortcut)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add the crackers, toss the crackers as you drizzle in the olive oil, the keep tossing and sprinkle in the dill, garlic powder, and dressing mix.
- Set the bowl aside for 1 hour. Before the hour is up, preheat your oven to 120 C (250 F), line a baking sheet with foil for easy clean up.
- When the hour has passed, spread the crackers onto the foil, and bake for 15-20 minutes.
- Allow to cool, enjoy as is or with chili or a nice soup.
Notes
Cannot price this until I find oyster crackers in Thailand again, I have only seen them one time and that was about 6 years ago. For now, I will say low cost.
Shortcut: Ranch Dressing Mix I, Ranch Dressing Mix II.
Provided by Tessa Pasquill of Just A Pinch Recipe Club and his recipe is here.
United Kingdom.
United Kingdom.
Vermicelli Rice (Rice Cooker)
This is a Middle Eastern/Lebanese dish, sort of, and for those in Asia, this does not use vermicelli rice noodles, this uses vermicelli pasta noodles. If you don't have vermicelli pasta noodles, angle hair pasta will work just as well, in a pinch, spaghetti works too.
Equipment
- Rice Cooker
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups dry Jasmine rice, or your choice of long grained white rice
- ½ cup dry vermicelli pasta, broken into ½ inch or smaller pieces
- 2¼ cups water
- ½ onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons extra light olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Rinse the rice several times until the water runs clear, this is removing some of the starch. When rinsed well, set aside.
- Heat your rice cooker by pressing the Cook switch, add the oil and onion, cook, stirring often the onion until soft.
- Add the butter, when melted, add the vermicelli pasta and stir constantly, until nicely toasted and golden brown. The smell will be that of popcorn.
- When the pasta is golden brown, add the rice and salt and stir to coat with the butter and oil.
- Add the water and stir together, add the lid and let the rice cooker cook a normal cycle. When the rice cooker switches to Warm mode, unplug and leave the rice cooker covered for 15-20 minutes, don't worry, you will still have hot rice.
- Fluff the rice with a rice paddle and serve.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Variants: 1. Use chicken or beef broth in place of water.
Creamy Lemon Chicken Piccata Meatballs
This recipe comes from a friend, and it is delicious. If making the sauce only to use with another meatball recipe, start at Step 4. I made the sauce for chicken meatballs that were baked but I still browned them up a bit before making the sauce. Links to the Shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 500 grams ground chicken, (1 lb)
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup bread crumbs, (Shortcut)
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- salt and pepper, as desired
For the Sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, (to brown the meatballs only)
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 1 cup chicken broth, (Shortcut)
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1/4-1/3 cup lemon or lime juice, adjust to taste
- 1/4 cup capers, drained
- salt and pepper, as desired, to taste
For Serving
- cooked pasta, of your choice
- Parmesan cheese, as desired
Instructions
- Place all the Meatball ingredients in a mixing bowl and get int there with your hands and mix everything together. If the mixture is too wet to form into a meatball, add some bread crumbs a little at a time.
- With wet hands, roll a heaping tablespoon of meat mixture into a meatball, place on a plate or sheet of foil, continue until all the meatballs are rolled.
- Now let's get the pasta going, I used spaghetti for this dish. Heat a pot of salted water to a boil, when boiling, add the spaghetti and cook until tender. Drain. While the water is heating you can proceed on with the rest of the steps.
- Heat the 1 tablespoon of oil in a large non stick pan on medium high heat, when hot, add some meatballs but don't overcrowd the pan, you will need to work in batches, brown on all sides, intention is to brown, not cooked through, we'll take care of that later. As the meatballs are browned, remove them to a plate.
- Reduce the heat to medium and wipe out the pan, add the butter. If just making the sauce for your own meatball recipe, add the butter to a non stick pan and place on medium heat.
- When the butter is melted, add the flour and mix into the butter, whisk constantly and cook for about 1 minute, now add the broth, lemon or lime juice, and the whipping cream, and whisk together.
- When the sauce is at a simmer, add the meatballs. Simmer for 5-8 minutes or until the sauce is starting to thicken, and check a meatball and make sure it is cooked through. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper as desired.
- When the sauce is thickened as desired, stir in the drained capers, let cook 1 more minute, remove from heat.
- Serve over cooked pasta of your choice and garnish with Parmesan cheese. Enjoy.
- I used a different meatball recipe and the meatballs were baked but I did brown them before making the sauce.
Notes
The cheese used and capers are the costly items for this, when I work out the cheese and capers, I will state a price per serving, for now I will say Fair cost per serving.
Shortcuts: Bread Crumbs, Chicken Broth (Pressure Cooker).
Variants: 1. To use milk in place of whipping cream, add an extra tablespoon of flour into the butter, and add 2 tablespoons of Parmesan, grated, into the sauce and it will thicken and taste very good as well, and it is healthier. 2. Add fresh mushrooms to the sauce.
Inspired by Spend With Pennies and the link to this recipe is here.
United States.
United States.
Dorito Taco Salad
Excellent salad and the family loved it, and oddly enough, I prefer a taco salad over tacos, any day. I did use a variant by using chickpeas in place of pinto beans. Links to the Shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 500 grams ground beef, or ground pork, (1 lb)
- 1 packet taco seasoning mix, (Shortcut)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 head lettuce, chopped into bite size pieces
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 cup black olives, sliced
- 1 can Pinto beans, rinsed, drained, or 1 1/2 cups cooked, (Shortcut)
- 1 cup tomatoes, diced
- 1/4 cup spring onion, sliced, reserve some for garnish
- 1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 bag Nacho Cheese Doritos, slightly crushed, (200 grams / 10 oz for US)
- 2 cups catalina dressing, (Shortcut)
- sour cream, optional, as desired for garnish
Instructions
- Heat a non stick pan and add the ground meat and onion. I used mince pork. Cook until no pink is visible then drain off the fat, return the pan to the burner.
- Add the taco seasoning mix and the water, stir to mix together.
- Simmer until the water is evaporated, stirring occasionally. After it is cooked, set the pan aside to cool while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
- Prep the lettuce, bell peppers, olives, spring onions, tomatoes, and beans as stated in the ingredients list. Place each item as prepped into a large mixing bowl and mix together.
- Add the cooled seasoned meat and cheese and mix together. Then mix in the partially crushed Doritos, then finally, pour on the dressing and mix that it.
- Garnish with sour cream as desired and the reserved spring onion. Serve immediately and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving for 8 servings.
Shortcuts: Taco Seasoning Mix, Pinto Beans (Pressure Cooker), Catalina Dressing, Chickpeas (Pressure Cooker).
Variants: 1. Use chickpeas in place of pinto beans. 2. Add fresh chopped cilantro. 3. Do not mix in the Doritos, just have them on the side and people can sprinkle them on as they like.
Inspired by Spend With Pennies and the link to this recipe is here.
United States.
United States.
Dorito Chicken Strips
Sounds good, and easy, and only 4 ingredients! On my to make and taste list.
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
- 1 bag Nacho Cheese Doritos, or any flavor you prefer, (200 grams / 10 oz for US)
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200 C (400 F) and line a baking sheet with foil.
- Cut chicken breasts into 3/4 inch strips.
- Crush the chips quite small but not into a powder, looking for texture on the chicken with these. In a shallow dish, mix together the egg and milk.
- Using tongs (prevents clumpy fingers) dip a chicken strip into the egg mixture, then roll in the chips, use the tongs and pat the chips onto the chicken on all sides, then place on the baking sheet. Repeat for all the strips.
- Lightly spray the strips with cooking spray or mist with some extra light olive oil. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until cooked through, you don't want to over cook the chicken, simply at 15 minutes, remove on from the oven and cut in half to check for doneness.
- Serve with ranch dressing, sour cream, or my choice, Kewpie mayo. Enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving, chicken is low cost.
Variants: 1. Before cooking, cut the strips into cubes and you have nuggets. 2. Use thighs or even whole chicken breasts.
Inspired by Spend With Pennies and the link to this recipe is here.
United States.
United States.
Catalina Dressing
Great tasting dressing and easy to put together with common ingredients. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon dried celery flakes
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning, Shortcut
- 1 tablespoon mayo
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and grab a whisk. Whisk until the dressing comes together as a smooth sauce, the mayo is what does this for you.
- Use immediately or store covered in the fridge.
Notes
Shortcut: Italian Seasoning.
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
- Catalina Chicken.
- Dorito Taco Salad, made it, GO-TO recipe.