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Cube Steaks with Gravy
November 1, 2016 Lee
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Cube Steaks with Gravy

A typical cube steak comes from the top round or top sirlion beef cuts and is normally mechanically tenderized which leave indentations in the meat in a process called cubing. Since I live in a out of the way place, there is two options for me for beef, buy online from a butcher and pay top dollar or I can buy local beef right here in the village. I bought a piercing meat tenderizer and since this is a slow cooker recipe, I am going to use any cut of beef I can get and will cut about 3/4 inch thick and use that. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 15 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1/3 cup all purpose flour
  • 6 beef cube steaks, go with 6 120-150 gram cuts of beef and tenderize yourself
  • 1 large onion, sliced and seperated into rings
  • 2 cups beef stock, fresh or from powder
  • 3 packets brown gravy, OR make from a shortcut on this site
  • 1 cup water
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • olive oil, as needed
  • garlic powder, as needed
  • 1-2 handfuls fresh mushrooms, your preference

Instructions
 

  • Season the flour with garlic powder, salt, and pepper to your liking. You can use either a bag to shake the steaks in the flour or just a plate to coat the steaks with flour.
  • Heat a skillet with a splash of olive oil and cook the steaks until lightly browned, you are not cooking them through, just lightly browning them and as you cook them, place them in the slow cooker. Once all the steaks are browned and in the slow cooker, top with the onions then pour in the beef stock. Cook on Low setting for 8 hours or until beef is tender. If your slow cooker runs a bit on the warm side, check on the beef at about 6-7 hours.
  • When the beef is tender, in a skillet with a splash of live oil, cook the mushrooms then add to the slow cooker. Whisk together the gravy packets and water (I cannot stress enough to make this shortcut, so easy!), and add to the slow cooker, cook for another 30 minutes. Remove the steaks to plates, stir up the gravy and ladle over steaks, mashed potatoes or pasta.

Notes

Beef would run about 200-250 Baht/kilo. You would need just under a kilo, for this I will estimate 200 Baht. For 6 servings, this is just under $1 per serving.
Shortcut: Gravy Mix.
Variant: add fresh chopped bell pepper.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,Beef - Slow Cooker
Asian Glazed Orange Chicken
October 31, 2016 Lee
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Asian Glazed Orange Chicken

Sounds really good, a must try for me. Chicken is inexpensive and can be dressed up a lot of ways. This is a straight forward recipe with chicken, oranges, and some spices and sauces that are readily available.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 8 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless if you can get those, or just go with bone in and skinless
  • 1 cup fresh orange juice, from about 3-4 oranges
  • 1 cup chicken stock, fresh or from powder
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup hoisin sauce, it is available here in Thailand
  • 4 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
  • 2 tablespoons orange zest, heaping
  • 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
  • 1 teaspoon Sriracha Chili Garlic sauce
  • fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish
  • orange slices, for garnish
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • olive oil, as needed

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 180 C. Get out a large baking dish or you can use a oven proof pan (think cast iron) if you wish.
  • Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Heat a splash of olive oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Place half of the chicken thighs in the pan and sear both sides of the chicken until lightly browned on both sides. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining thighs.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients until well combined. Pour into the same pan you cooked the chicken in and cook the sauce over medium heat until reduced by a third. Add the chicken back to the pan and and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 74 C.
  • Remove the chicken from the fry pan and transfer to a serving platter, reserving the glaze in the pan. Place some foil over the chicken to keep warm. Cook the glaze over medium heat until the sauce is reduced by another third. Drizzle over the chicken and garnish with cilantro and sliced oranges if desired. Serve with fried rice on the side or just fresh pasta.

Notes

Chicken thighs will run about 75 Baht/kilo. How many thighs are in a kilo, I do not know until I make this, but for a more frugal option, buy 8 quarters, the thighs will be larger and use the legs for another recipe. Everything is minimal. For 4 servings (going with 8 thighs is a kilo), this is about 55 cents per serving.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,CHICKEN & TURKEY
Easy Cheesy Sausage & Long Bean Skillet Pasta
October 31, 2016 Lee
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Easy Cheesy Sausage & Long Bean Skillet Pasta

Sounds really good and readily available ingredients, several shortcuts are listed to make this a very economical dish. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 500 grams Italian sausage, OR make from a shortcut
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 400 grams dry Penne pasta, cooked and drained
  • 2 cups fresh long beans, cut into 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces
  • 3 cups tomato pasta sauce, OR make from a shortcut
  • 2-3 cups Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
  • olive oil, as needed
  • fresh parsley, chopped for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Heat a splash of olive oil in a large deep skillet and brown the sausage, onion, and long beans until the sausage is cooked through and the beans are tender.
  • Mix in the cooked pasta then stir in the pasta sauce. Add the cheese on top and let melt, OR you can use an oven safe pan and put in the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese, OR, just mix the cheese in and let it melt. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Notes

Unless you can find bulk Italian sausage, you may need to make the shortcut, I will base the pricing on home made sausage (so easy!). 500 grams of minced pork is about 55 Baht, the cheese however is about 142 to 210 Baht, depending if you want to use 2 cups or 3 cups (figure 100 grams (block type) per cup shredded. For 8 servings using 2 cups of cheese, this is about 75 cents per serving. Make the sauce yourself for more savings.
Shortcuts: Italian Sausage, Tomato Pasta Sauce.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,PASTA
Garlic Butter Cheesy Prawn
October 24, 2016 Lee
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Garlic Butter Cheesy Prawn

This recipe was prepared for me by our good friends we had over as house guests. Very tasty and easy to prepare. This recipe uses large prawn so it is not an inexpensive meal. This can be an appetizer, at a pot luck meal, or as a main dish. This recipe is listed for what is shown in the photos, 14 large prawn.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Course Appetizer, Main Dish
Cuisine Thai
Servings 14 prawn

Ingredients
  

  • 14 fresh large prawn, whole, unpeeled and head on
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened, this is 1/2 a regular block of butter
  • 6 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
  • Cheddar cheese, 14 small slices
  • spring onion, chopped for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 200 C (390 F), line a 9x13 baking dish with foil.
  • Split the body of each whole prawn, including the head, to nearly through and gently spread apart and place in the baking dish. Photo shows the size of prawn used.
  • With the room temp butter, mix in the garlic, using a spoon and your fingers, put some garlic butter into each prawn as shown in this photo.
  • Place in the oven then reduce the temp to 180 C (350 F). Bake for 5-10 minute or until the shells turn orange, remove from the oven and add a small slice of cheese to each body of the prawns and bake for another 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted, remove from oven, sprinkle with some chopped spring onion or chives, serve.

Notes

The cost break down is hard with this recipe as I do not know how many large prawn are in a kilo. One kilo is 350 Baht. I will say this is between $1 and $1.50 per serving. When I make this again I will provide more accurate pricing information. This is listed as an appetizer as well as a main dish.
Original recipe provided courtesy of good friend, Yui Hinton.
Thailand.
#1 Go-To Recipes,* Fair Value $1.01 to $1.50 per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,APPETIZERS / SNACKS,SEAFOOD - ALL,Seafood - Shrimp/Prawn
Flour Tortillas
October 19, 2016 Lee
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Flour Tortillas

Adapted from an internet recipe.
Sounds pretty straight forward, I must give this a try as store bought are expensive! I cannot judge the quantity of tortillas that this makes until I try this, supposedly it is 12.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 40 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 0

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ cup oil, or real lard
  • â…” cup warm water

Instructions
 

  • Combine ingredients to form a dough. Cover dough with plastic wrap or foil and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
  • Divide into 12 portions and roll each into a ball. Press into a thin flat circle using a tortilla press or roll out with a rolling pin until approximately 1/8 inch thick. (This step does not sound right and will verify when I make these.)
  • Lightly brush a heated heavy cast iron pan with oil and wipe off any excess oil, then cook tortillas until crisp on both sides, turning once. Stack between paper napkins or towels and keep warm until all are done.
  • Stuff with your favorite fillings and serve right away or wrap tightly with wax or parchment paper between layers and freeze for up to 6 months.
: MEXICAN,INGREDIENTS
Cabbage and Noodles
October 19, 2016 Lee
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Cabbage and Noodles

This sounds really good. I will be trying this for sure, either with smoked sausage or with homemade Italian sausage from a shortcut on this site. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 350 grams smoked sausage, or a bit more, no one will complain, OR Italian sausage
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 1/2 head cabbage, chopped, about 6-7 cups
  • 1 clove garlic, smashed and minced
  • 2/3 cup frozen peas
  • 250 grams dry egg noodles, OR Fettuccine pasta (my preference)
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • olive oil, as needed

Instructions
 

  • Heat a pot of water to boiling and then cook the egg noodles or pasta until just done, drain and then set aside. A small amount of olive oil drizzled on the noodles will keep them from sticking.
  • In a large non-stick pan, heat a splash of olive oil and cook the smoked sausage until lightly browned, if cooking home made sausage, cook until cooked through.
  • Is using smoked sausage, you may need to add another splash of olive oil then add the butter, onion, and garlic, cooking until the onion is soft. OR if using home made sausage, you may need to drain off some of the fat but leave a little in the pan then just add the butter, onion, and garlic and cook that until the onion is soft. About 5 minutes or so, stirring once in a while.
  • Add the cabbage and cook until tender, stirring often, maybe 15 minutes or so then add in the peas, noodles or pasta and salt and pepper to your liking. Cook this until heated through, just a few minutes then serve.

Notes

Smoked sausage will run about 100 Baht for 350 grams, home made Italian sausage, or regular sausage, or chicken sausage (think small meat balls) is much less. For smoked sausage, 4 servings, this is about 74 cents per serving. For home made sausage, this is about 40 Baht/350 grams, 4 servings would be about 30 cents per serving.
Shortcut: Italian Sausage, Sausage, Chicken Sausage.
Variants: Think cooked chopped chicken in place of the sausage.
Inspired by Spend With Pennies and the link to this recipe is here.
United States.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,PASTA
Baker’s German Sweet Chocolate Pie
October 19, 2016 Lee
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Baker's German Sweet Chocolate Pie

This is an old school recipe that has been around for well over 50 years. Cannot find baking German Sweet Chocolate? Just go with any sweet baking chocolate, if you can use even semi-sweet in a pinch just add a 2 tablespoons more sugar to this recipe. This is not German in origin, the chef that created this was named Samuel German, an American. On my to cook list! Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 120 grams German sweet chocolate
  • 1/4 cup butter, this is 1/4 of a regular block of butter
  • 1 2/3 cup evaporated milk
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 unbaked pie shell, OR make from a shortcut
  • 1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
  • 1/c cup pecans, chopped, OR go with almonds

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 190 C. Make the pie crust using the shortcut on this site or use your own recipe, you may have to refrigerate the dough first so note the time for that and adjust the recipe the based on that time and get that ready in a pie pan or get a get a ready made pie shell ready.
  • Melt chocolate with butter over low heat; stir until blended. Remove from heat; gradually blend in milk.
  • Mix sugar, cornstarch, salt then beat in eggs and vanilla. Gradually blend into the chocolate mixture, then pour into your pie shell.
  • Mix coconut and pecans (or almonds) then sprinkle this over the pie filling.
  • Bake for 45 minutes or until top is puffed up. Filling will be soft, but will set while cooling. Cool at least 4 hours before serving.

Notes

I cannot price this until I get a price on the chocolate so I will say this is a fair price for now.
Shortcut: Basic Buttery Pie Crust.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Fair Value $1.01 to $1.50 per Serving,DESSERTS
No Crust Cheesecake
October 19, 2016 Lee
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No Crust Cheesecake

Sounds really good and really easy, only 3 ingredients. Consider this a base recipe as it can be tailored in many ways.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 3 eggs
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 500 grams Cream cheese, this is 2 standard 250 gram blocks

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 180 C. Lightly butter a glass pie pan.
  • Combine all ingredients and mix with an electric mixer. Pour into your pie pan and bake for 30 minutes (depending on your oven, you may need to increase time to 45-55 minutes). Cool. Keep refrigerated. This can be cut into wedges and served plain or topped with a fruit filling if desired.

Notes

The Cream cheese will cost about 240 Baht for 2 250 gram packages. For 8 servings, this is about 89 cents per serving. Good value overall.
Variants: Serve topped with a fruit filling such as blueberry, cherry, strawberry, etc. Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Melt a bar of chocolate and mix that in.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,DESSERTS
Jalan Alor Chicken Wings
October 18, 2016 Lee
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Jalan Alor Chicken Wings

This recipe is from a friend and this is a Malaysian dish and it sounds very tasty! On my to cook list for sure.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Course Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine Malaysian
Servings 3 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 kilo chicken wings, drummets or midle sections
  • 5 shallots, diced
  • 5 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
  • 2 inches ginger, peeled and finely chopped
  • 5 teaspoons light soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper, or to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
  • sugar, to taste
  • salt, to taste
  • chives, chopped for garnish, if desired
  • chilies, chopped for garnish, if desired

Instructions
 

  • In a bowl, add the wings or any other chicken parts as well as the garlic, shallots, ginger, light and dark soy sauces, sesame, white pepper, salt and sugar. Stir to coat the chicken. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge to marinate for 2 hours (minimum). Give the chicken an occasional stir while marinating. After 2 hours, place the chicken on the counter for about 30 minutes to get them up to room temp.
  • Preheat your oven to 180 C. Foil line a baking dish and add a rack as well.
  • Place the wings on the rack and if you have a oil sprayer, spray just a bit of oil on the wings and bake for 20 minutes, then flip them over, baste with the marinade and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and garnish with chives and chilies if desired. Serve with rice as a meal.

Notes

Chicken middle wing sections are 120 Baht/kilo, drumettes are 69 Baht/kilo. For 3 servings with drumettes, this is about 68 cents per serving, if using middle wing sections, for 3 servings, this is about $1.18 per serving. Overall, good value, serve with rice for a meal.
Provided by The Domestic Goddess Wannabe and the link to this recipe is here.
Singapore.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,CHICKEN & TURKEY
Turkey Giblet Gravy
October 18, 2016 Lee
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Turkey Giblet Gravy

This sounds like an excellent gravy to go well on mashed potatoes along side of course, a Roast Turkey, recipe is slightly changed. I am making this very soon.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Side
Cuisine American
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients
  

  • giblets, these are heart, gizzard, and neck, do not use the liver
  • 4 cups water
  • 6 tablespoons cornstarch, plus 1/2 cup water to make a slurry
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 cup turkey drippings

Instructions
 

  • Start making the gravy about 1 1/2 to 2 hours before your turkey is done roasting. First thing you need to do is cook the giblets, place the giblets in about 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for about an hour. Then remove the giblets and stain the stock so you have 3 cups (if you do not have 3 cups, add some water to make it 3 cups), add the stock to a saucepan.
  • Chop the heart and gizzard to make about 1/2 cup of chopped giblets, set this aside and give the rest to your dog for a snack.
  • Add 1 cup of drippings to the saucepan and put on medium heat, then whisk the cornstarch and 1/2 cup of water together then whisk that into the saucepan, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a low simmer to thicken, stir in the chopped giblets and season with salt and pepper your liking. Simmer for about 5 minutes or so until the gravy is thickened. Serve.

Notes

Adapted from an internet recipe.
5 Ingredients or Less,SIDES