Author Archive
Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning
June 8, 2017 Lee
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Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning

Adapted from an internet recipe.
Sounds like a great tasting rub for a roast chicken. This should cover 3 average size roasting chickens.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Cuisine American
Servings 0

Ingredients
  

  • 1-2 tablespoons kosher salt, your preference
  • 2 tablespoons paprika, smoked paprika would be best
  • 3 teaspoons onion powder
  • 1½ teaspoons garlic powder
  • 3 teaspoons dried thyme
  • 3 teaspoons ground white pepper
  • 1½ teaspoons cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary

Instructions
 

  • Mix all ingredients and store in a air tight container.
  • Rub on a whole chicken and cook on a rotisserie or just oven bake.
Ingredients - Spice Mixes
Beer Braised Chicken Thighs II
June 8, 2017 Lee
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Beer Braised Chicken Thighs II

Chicken thighs, mushrooms, and beer, sounds like a winner. Simple, easily available ingredients as well. Start to finish in as little as 30 minutes.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 34 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 4 chicken thighs, bone in, skin removed
  • 3 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour, divided
  • 2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped, or 1/4 teaspoon dry
  • 1/4 teaspoon paprika
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup onion, chopped
  • 250 grams fresh cremini mushrooms, halved
  • 3/4 cup dark beer
  • 3/4 cup chicken stock, fresh or from powder
  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
  • 250 grams dry egg noodles

Instructions
 

  • Combine 3 tablespoons flour, thyme, and paprika in a large zip-top plastic bag. Sprinkle chicken with salt to taste. Add chicken to bag; seal. Turn and shake bag to coat the chicken well.
  • Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan, swirl to coat. When the oil is hot, remove chicken from flour mixture and discard flour. Add chicken to pan and cook 4 minutes or until browned. Turn chicken and cook 2 minutes. Remove chicken from pan to a plate, you are just browning, not cooking all the way through.
  • Add onion and mushrooms to the same pan and cook 5 minutes or until mushrooms are browned, stirring occasionally. Stir in remaining 1/2 tablespoon flour, beer, stock, Worcestershire sauce, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, cook 2 minutes.
  • Return chicken to pan and reduce heat to a simmer and partially cover, cook for 15 minutes or until chicken is done.
  • While the chicken is simmering, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the egg noodles until tender, drain and set aside.
  • To serve, plate noodles on a plate, top with a chicken thigh, spoon on some sauce and mushrooms from the pan, sprinkle with parsley.

Notes

Maybe 60 Baht for 4 thighs, for 4 servings, this is about 44 cents per serving.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Stephen Connell.
United States.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,CHICKEN & TURKEY
Shrimp Salad I
June 8, 2017 Lee
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Shrimp Salad I

This is a basic recipe that can be tailored to your taste. This sounds really good and easy, and common ingredients. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Course Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 500 grams shrimp, cooked, peeled, deveined, no tails
  • 1/2 cup mayo
  • 1/3 cup celery, chopped
  • 1/4 cup onion, finely diced
  • 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning, OR make from a shortcut
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Instructions
 

  • Cut shrimp in half, combine with remaining ingredients. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
  • Serve on a bed of lettuce, in a wrap, on a sandwich roll, on toast, etc as a light lunch or dinner.

Notes

Shrimp can cost anywhere between 100 and 150 Baht/500 grams depending on the size and where bought, grocery store or local. Fresh from a local fisherman or shrimp farm would cost less. Based on 150 Baht, for 4 servings, this is about $1.10 per serving, less if smaller or local bought shrimp is used.
Variant: Add cubed cheese.
Shortcut: Old Bay Seasoning.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Fair Value $1.01 to $1.50 per Serving,SEAFOOD - ALL,Seafood - Shrimp/Prawn
Shrimp Stuffed Avocado
June 7, 2017 Lee
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Shrimp Stuffed Avocado

Sounds yummy! Avocados are grown here and there is imports, and if you have good friends that have a tree or were lucky enough to get some avocados, you can grow your own. On my to cook list. Seems like a lot of steps but this would come together quickly.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Appetizer, Side
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

For the Shrimp

  • 500 grams shrimp, peeled, deviened, tail removed
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon paprika
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • olive oil, as needed
  • 2 ripe avocados, halved, pitted, scopped whole

For the Mayo Dressing

  • 1 1/2 tablespoons mayo
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
  • juice from 1/2 lime, tiny Thai limes use 2-3
  • 2 tablespoons orange juice
  • 2 tablespoons red bell pepper, finely diced
  • 2 tablespoons yellow bell pepper, finely diced
  • 2 tablespoons red onion, finely diced
  • 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
  • salt and pepper, to taste

For the Lime Sauce

  • juice from 1 lime, tiny Thai limes use 3
  • handful fresh cilantro, finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, smashed and minced
  • splash red wine vinegar
  • splash olive oil
  • salt, to taste
  • lettuce leaves, for serving

Instructions
 

  • Add the shrimp to a bowl, season with the spices listed for the shrimp, add a splash of olive oil as well, let this marinate while you make the sauces.
  • Meanwhile, to make the Mayo Dressing, mix together the combining mayo, yogurt, juice of half a lime, orange juice, bell peppers, red onion, a dash of chili pepper, salt and pepper. Set aside.
  • For the Lime Sauce, combine cilantro, garlic, juice of one lime, a splash of red wine vinegar, olive oil, and salt in a blender. Or mix by hand. Set aside.
  • Cook the shrimp in a hot pan with a splash of olive oil, once they begin to brown slightly and turn opaque, turn them and cook for 1-2 minutes more. Remove from pan and place on paper towels to drain and cool.
  • While the shrimp is cooking, halve, pit, and scoop out the whole avocado from the skin using a large spoon. Place lettuce leaves on each plate, top with each piece of avocado.
  • When the shrimp has cooled, roughly chop and mix into the Mayo Dressing.
  • Fill avocados with the shrimp filling equally divided between the 4 pieces. Drizzle on the Lime Sauce, serve as an appetizer or side.

Notes

Shrimp prices can vary a lot, from farm raised to wild caught, choose wisely. Small White Shrimp from Tesco will cost about 80 Baht/500 grams. For 4 servings, this is about 60 cents per serving. Keep in mind, many of these ingredients can be locally sourced.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,APPETIZERS / SNACKS,SEAFOOD - ALL,Seafood - Shrimp/Prawn,SIDES
Traditional Roast Beef Hash
June 6, 2017 Lee
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Traditional Roast Beef Hash

I have made this countless times when growing up, probably weekly for years, but we used venison for this. Key thing here is equal amounts of beef and potatoes with an onion or two thrown in. Servings, prep, and cook times are approximate for now until I make this here using an electric meat grinder.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 500 grams cooked beef, roast, boiled, pressure cooked, etc.
  • 500 grams potatoes, boiled, skin on is fine
  • 1-2 onions
  • cooking oil, your choice, as needed
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • ketchup, for serving, very important

Instructions
 

  • Cut the beef, regardless of how you cooked it into chunks that fit in the hopper of your grinder. Cut the potatoes into quarters and for big potatoes, cut the quarters in half as well. Cut the onion(s) into quarters and cut each piece in half.
  • Run everything through your grinder, chuck of beef, potato, onion, until everything is ground.
  • Heat the cooking oil, bacon fat would be perfect, in a large frying pan, preferably a cast iron, on medium high to high heat.
  • Add the hash to the frying pan so that a half an inch of hash covers the bottom of the pan. If you have more hash to cook, do so in separate batches. Brown the hash, stirring only infrequently at first to make sure that the hash has an opportunity to brown well.
  • As you cook the hash, add pinches of salt and fresh ground pepper. Do this a couple of times with each batch of hash. Cook for at least 10 minutes and until the hash is well browned. Serve with ketchup, important.

Notes

The beef would cost about 100 Baht/500 grams, for 4 servings, this is 75 cents per serving.
Been making this for many years.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,BEEF
Bacon Egg & Cheese Fried Rice
June 6, 2017 Lee
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Bacon Egg & Cheese Fried Rice

Sounds good, can be changed at will to make it a different dish each time, such as two fried sunny side up eggs instead of the omelet, with and without cheese, etc.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 2 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 5 strips bacon, cut into 1/2 in pieces
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
  • 3 cups cooked rice, leftover rice would be perfect
  • 3 spring onions, chopped, white and green
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions
 

  • Cook the bacon in a pan until crispy, remove from the pan leaving the fat in the pan.
  • Same pan, add the onion and garlic and cook in the bacon fat until translucent, about 1 minute. Add the cooked white rice, bacon and chopped spring onion (reserve a tablespoon of spring onion and bacon for garnish). Mix together, then add the butter, soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Mix together, then set aside.
  • Mix eggs and milk together in a small bowl. Heat another pan with a splash of oil. Add the egg mix to pan. Sprinkle mozzarella on top and cover with a lid until cheese is melted and the flat omelet is cooked through.
  • Place the fried rice on a plate, and add the egg omelet on top of the rice. Garnish with the reserved spring onion and bacon. Dig in and enjoy.

Notes

With the cheese, this is about $1 per serving, without cheese, much lower cost.
Variants: Replace the omelet with two sunny side up eggs, add chopped bell pepper, use ground beef, pork, chicken, or even breakfast sausage in place of the bacon, you get the idea.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Stephen Connell.
United States.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,EGGS - ALL,Eggs - Chicken,Eggs - Duck,LEFTOVERS
Classic Seasoned Black Beans
June 6, 2017 Lee
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Classic Seasoned Black Beans

Sounds like an excellent side dish, I'll have to make these.
Print Recipe
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour
Cuisine American
Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 500 grams dry black beans
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 6 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
  • 8 cups chicken broth, fresh or from powder
  • 1-2 Bird's Eye Chilis, seeded diced, optional

Instructions
 

  • Place black beans in a large bowl and cover with at least two inches of water. Refrigerate and let soak overnight. Or, for a quick soak, add the beans to a large pot cover with 2 inches of water and bring to a boil, boil hard for 5 minutes, then remove from heat, cover, and let soak for an hour.
  • Drain and rinse the soaked beans. Return them to the pot. Add in all the remaining ingredients.
  • Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until the beans are tender. This will depend a lot on the age of your beans. Fresher beans will be ready in 45-60 minutes, older beans might take 2-3 hours. Start tasting around the 45 minute mark.
  • Taste for seasoning, adding more salt if necessary, then remove beans using slotted spoon. Serve as a side dish.

Notes

Low cost.
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
 
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,SIDES
Meatball Parmigiana
June 5, 2017 Lee
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Meatball Parmigiana

Sounds good, meatballs with cheese and pasta sauce, and more cheese, perfect! On my to cook list for sure. I will update serving size and times after I make this, what is listed is just guesses for now. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 750 grams ground beef, or beef and pork
  • 4 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
  • handful fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1 cup bread crumbs, OR make from a shortcut
  • 1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded, not grated
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, OR make from a shortcut
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1-2 cups Mozzarella Cheese
  • 4-6 cups pasta sauce, OR make from a shortcut

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 200 C.
  • Mix all of the meatball ingredients, except the Mozzarella cheese and pasta sauce, and form your meatballs, not too large. Pour 1-2 tablespoons oil on a foil lined baking sheet and bake the meatballs for 20 minutes.
  • Lower oven temp to 190 C.
  • Spoon some sauce into the bottom of a large baking dish. Place meatballs on top of the sauce. Cover with more sauce and dress the top up with plenty of mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
  • Remove foil and bake an additional 20 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through and cheese is browning. For the last few minutes you can raise the oven temperature to help with browning.
  • Serve on pasta or rice.

Notes

Estimate about 150 Baht for ground beef, less if using beef and pork mix. I cannot price Parmesan cheese in a block yet, I will estimate 150 Baht, for the Mozzarella cheese, I would go with 400 grams at 280 Baht. For 6 servings, this is about $2.85 per serving.
Shortcuts: Bread Crumbs, Pasta Sauce.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* High Cost $1.51+ per Serving,MEATBALLS
Trash Chicken
June 4, 2017 Lee
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Trash Chicken

This sounds really good, on my to cook list. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 500 grams chicken tenders, or cut from breasts
  • 1/2 cup Ranch dressing, more for serving, OR make from a shortcut
  • juice from 1 lemon
  • 4 cups potato chips
  • black pepper, to taste
  • spring onions, chopped, for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to200 C. line a baking sheet with foil and lightly grease with olive oil. In a large bowl, whisk together ranch dressing and lemon juice and season with pepper. Add chicken and toss until completely coated.
  • Place potato chips in a Ziploc bag and crush with your hands or a rolling pin. Add chicken to bag, seal tightly, and shake vigorously until coated in crumbs.
  • Place the chicken on the baking sheet in a single layer and bake until chicken is golden and cooked through, 20 minutes, flipping once halfway through.
  • Garnish with spring onion and serve with ranch dressing.

Notes

The average boneless but skin on chicken breasts will cost about 40 Baht/500 grams. For 4 servings, this is about 30 cents per serving.
Shortcut: Ranch Dressing.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,CHICKEN & TURKEY
Baked Chicken Wings
June 4, 2017 Lee
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Baked Chicken Wings

I like chicken wings, and I like easy, these sound like the fit the bill perfectly.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 kilos chicken wings
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 220 C. Separate the wings into drumettes and middle sections, boil the wing tips in a pot of water to make some stock for future use and the tips make a good snack for your dog as well.
  • Dry the wing pieces chicken thoroughly with paper towels and place in a medium bowl, add the olive oil and toss to coat. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and baking powder. Mix well.
  • Line baking sheets with foil and grease with additional olive oil and spread chicken in a single layer. Bake for 20 minutes, then broil, or use the top coil for a counter top oven, until golden brown, 7 to 10 minutes. Serve with rice and a vegetable for a complete meal.

Notes

Chicken wings will cost about 135 Baht/1 1/2 kilos. For 4 servings, this is about 99 cents per serving.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,CHICKEN & TURKEY