Author Archive
Banana Mango Blueberry Bread Pudding Cobbler
Wow! That is a name but I know from a very good friend who provided this recipe, it is also very good! Don't forget the Vanilla ice cream! On my to cook list for sure!
Ingredients
For the Bread Pudding
- 1/2 loaf baguette, cubed and air dried or lightly toasted, or 6-8 slices of bread
- 2 cups milk
- 4 eggs
- 2 bananas, over ripened, use 3 small ones if using local
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup butter, unsalted, this is 1/4 of a block, melted
- 1 cup mango, cubed OR you can use peaches
- 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
For the Crumble Topping
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- pinch ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 C. Lightly grease a baking dish, a 9x13 should be perfect for this, or a large pie dish. Add the cubed dried bread to the baking dish.
- Put the Bread Pudding ingredients, except the dried bread, butter, blueberries, and mango, in your blender and blend until smooth, slowly dribble in the melted 1/4 cup of butter, while the blender is on the lowest speed. Once mixed, pour this over the bread in the baking dish. The liquid mixture should cover the dried bread. Cover this and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour, the bread will soak up the liquid.
- While the bread pudding is in the fridge, mix the Crumble Topping in a bowl until it looks like rough sand and set aside.
- When the bread pudding has chilled, remove from the fridge and sprinkle on the blueberries and mango, then sprinkle the Crumble topping over that. Bake for 35 minutes, rotating the dish half way through.
- Cool slightly before cutting, serve as is or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Tastes better the next day!
Notes
This is really a low cost dessert.
Recipe & photos provided courtesy of good friend, Grace Adamson, Gourmet Kwi-zeen.
United States.
United States.
Southern Baked Mac and Cheese
I am not sure what makes this a "Southern" dish, but it sounds really good. I love a good Mac & Cheese. On my to cook list.
Ingredients
- 500 grams elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
- 4 cups Cheddar cheese, shredded, this is about 1-1 1/2 250 gram blocks
- 2 cups milk
- 1/4 cup butter, this is 1/4 block of butter, softened
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 block Cream cheese, softened
- salt and black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200 C. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish with butter.
- Place cooked and drain macaroni in a large bowl, add 3 cups of the Cheddar cheese, milk, eggs, butter, and cream cheese. Add salt and pepper to your liking. Mix until all combined. Pour into the baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of Cheddar on over the top.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown on the top. Serve as a side or as a main dish.
Notes
Low cost meal for sure, well under $1.00 per serving.
For variants, ad one of the following, cooked cubed ham, cooked sliced smoked sausage, cooked cubed chicken. Even with these, still under $1.00 per serving.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Garlic Whole Chicken
This is not an overwhelming flavor of garlic, it does season the chicken slightly. The chicken is indeed tender and juicy. The slow cooking of the garlic, much like roasting, reduces the garlic flavor but yield some great soft garlic you can just spread on the potatoes. Good chicken without a doubt. This is in my regular rotation. The plus side to this recipe is minimal ingredients, no olive oil, no water needed. The Thai family loved it, even the picky niece who normally refuses anything not Thai.
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, remove the head, neck, feet, and giblets.
- 40 cloves garlic, peeled but whole
- 3 large shallots, palm size is perfect, 2 sliced, 1 quartered
- salt, pepper, and paprika, to taste
- 3 small potatoes, optional, cut into big bite size pieces
Instructions
- Rinse the chicken and remove the feet, head, and neck. Trim any fat near the chest opening.
- Peel the garlic, set aside. Peel the large shallots, slice 2 and quarter 1, set aside. Feel free to use onions in place of the shallots.
- Place slices of shallot on the bottom of your slow cooker.
- Take the bird and sprinkle salt, pepper, and paprika on the backside, rub it in well, flip the bird over and do the same, coating the front of the bird, legs and wings. Place in the slow cooker, backside down on top of the shallots. Stuff the cavity with several quarters of the shallot and as many garlic cloves as you can. Place the rest of the garlic under and on the sides of the chick, top with the shallot slices.
- Cover and cook on High setting for 4 hours, then reduce to low setting and add the large cubed potatoes on the top, salt and pepper as you desire. Cook for another hour. At the 5 hour mark of total cooking time, use a meat thermometer in the thickest section and check the temp to be safe, ours was perfect at 5 hours. The potatoes were perfect. The chicken, fall off the bone tender, and juicy.
- Serve, use a pair of tongs to grab the meat, as it is fall off the bone tender. Add some potatoes and some garlic. A vegetable on the side would make this a complete meal (I took the photo before I added some spinach.)
Notes
This chicken in the photo was 113 Baht, that is 83 cents per serving for 4 servings, and just 55 cents per serving for 6 servings. A delicious and hearty meal for very good value.
Original recipe by Lee Thayer.
Thailand.
Thailand.
Chicken Pizza Biscuits
I received this recipe from a good friend in the states, sounds wonderful and is on my to cook list. Quantities are not listed, this is a make with what you have type recipe. When I make this I will narrow down the measurements. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- chicken, see Step 2
- biscuits, see Step 3
- Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
- pizza sauce, OR make from a shortcut
- butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 C. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
- Chicken, several options. 1. Use chicken meat from a whole slow cooked thicken (most economical), white meat or dark, up to you, and shred the meat you need. 2. Cook and shred several chicken breasts, seasoned with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. 3. Buy a rotisserie chicken or make one yourself.
- For the biscuits, several options. 1. Use your favorite rolled biscuit recipe (most economical). 2. If you find, say, Pillsbury Grands biscuits in a tube, use those if you like. Then take each biscuit, either your rolled biscuits that you have cut into biscuits or those from a tube, and on a lightly floured surface, pat out biscuit each with your fingers to make a larger, thinner biscuit, like 5-6 inches in diameter.
- Take the patted out biscuit and place some shredded chicken in the center of the biscuit, add shredded cheese on top of the chicken. Fold the sides of the biscuit to cover the filling and lightly pinch together, place biscuit on the baking sheet. When the sheet is full, allow room between the biscuits, brush with melted butter and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Repeat this if you have to cook in batches.
- Serve with pizza sauce for dipping.
Notes
This is a snack or meal, great while watching a sports game on TV. If you make the biscuits and pizza sauce yourself, this is very inexpensive. Chicken is inexpensive, think cooking a whole chicken in your slow cooker, using some meat for this recipe, and then you have more meat for another 1 or 2 recipes. The cheese would not be that much as not a lot is used.
When I prepare this I will edit the recipe, pricing, and add photos.
Shortcut: Pizza Sauce.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Bob Wicker.
United States.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Bob Wicker.
United States.
Philippines Style Stuffed Crab
This comes from a good friend, and it sounds absolutely wonderful! Takes time but I think this is well worth it. On my to try list.
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 12 blue crabs, cooked, and cooled
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 small potatoes, diced
- 1 small onion, diced
- ½ box raisins, this would be the small box
- ¼ red bell pepper, diced
- ¼ cup peas, canned or cooked frozen peas
- dash soy sauce, low sodium
- 2 eggs, beaten
- salt, to taste
- olive oil
- panko breadcrumbs
Instructions
- First task is, you guessed it, you have to pick all 12 crabs, putting the meat in a separate bowl, try to keep the meat in the largest chunks possible, pick everything. Save the top of the shells for use later to bake the crab in. Clean the tops and rinse them out and allow to dry.
- Heat a large non stick skillet with a splash of olive oil, then cook the diced potatoes until done, remove from the pan and set aside.
- Same skillet, cook the onion and garlic until the onion is soft. Then gently fold in the crab meat, make sure you do not make it mushy. Then fold in the cooked potatoes, then fold in the red bell pepper, peas, and raisins. Gently mix in a dash of low sodium soy sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside, letting it cool.
- Preheat your oven to 190° C (375° F) and get out a baking sheet.
- Stuff each crab shell with the mixture, pack them tight and mound over the top, about 5-7 shells is what you will need. Brush each mound of filling with beaten egg and top with Panko breadcrumbs.
- Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the breadcrumbs start to get golden brown. Remove from oven, let cool 5 minutes. Serve, coleslaw, corn chowder or a green salad would be excellent sides.
Notes
Blue Crabs would cost about 200 Baht for 12 decent sized crabs, for 6 servings (this is based on 6 stuffed shells and 1 stuffed shell per serving), this is about $1 per serving. Overall, not bad, but can be time consuming to put together.
Warren's Slow Cooker Stew
This is from a good friend and it sounds delicious! A must try for me.
Ingredients
- 1 kilo yard beans, cut into 2 inche pieces
- 1 kilo ham, cubed
- 4 potatoes, cubed
- 1 onion, diced
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Prepare all the vegetables and cube the ham, add everything to your slow cooker, season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix together.
- Add 3 cups of water. Cook on Low setting for 6 hours, serve.
Notes
The ham is the most expensive part of this dish. Estimate about 200 Baht for 1 kilo, think Makro, they have great sales on cooked ham, thick slices. For an estimate of 6 servings, this is about 98 cents per serving.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Warren Barker.
United States.
United States.
Coconut Ant Eggs (and a few ants)
This is a basic, but often hard to find dish. As the name implies, this is made from ant eggs, the ants are the red flying variety. Surprisingly enough, the eggs taste like hard boiled chicken eggs. This actually very good, I have had this many times in Northern Thailand. Measurements are approximate.
Ingredients
- 2 cups ant eggs, there will be ants in there as well, that is ok
- 1 1/2-2 cups grated coconut
- salt, taste
Instructions
- Grate the coconut. Rinse the ant eggs.
- Add the coconut to a pot and add water to cover by about 1 inch, bring to a boil, add the ant eggs and bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for about 5 minutes (there, you made coconut milk), serve over rice.
Notes
Well under $1 per serving.
Provided courtesy of my wife, Rrayada Thayer.
Thailand.
Thailand.
Salisbury Steak Meatballs
Sounds really good. There is a load of ingredients, for the meatballs and the sauce. On my to cook list. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 1 kilo ground beef, OR minced pork, OR ground chicken
- 3/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs, OR make from a shortcut listed on this site
- 1/8 cup brown mustard
- 1/4 cup tomato ketchup, OR make from a shortcut listed on this site
- 1 teaspoon beef stock powder
- 1 tablespoon Worcherstershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
For the Sauce
- 1/4 cup butter, this is 1/4 of a standard blcok of butter
- 1 large onion, halved and sliced
- 2 1/2 cups beef stock, fresh or make from powder
- 1 tablespoon Worcherstershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup, OR make from a shortcut listed on this site
- 2 tablespoons corn starch, mix with a little beef stock to make a paste
- 500 grams egg noodles, OR Fettuccine pasta, cooked to just done and drained
- fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 C, or if you choose to pan fry these, omit this step.
- In a large bowl, mix the meatball ingredients until completely combined. Form into golf ball size meatballs and place on a baking sheet pan or a rack on a sheet pan, just place on a plate if you are going to pan fry these.
- To cook these, baking is preferred, bake for 20 to 30 minutes, cut one in half to make sure they are cooked through. Pan frying may result in meatballs falling apart.
- In a large non stick skillet, add about a tablespoon of butter and olive oil and heat, then add the onion and cook until golden brown and softening. While doing this, add 1/2 cup beef stock to the corn starch to make a paste.
- When the onions are cooked, add 2 cups of beef stock to the skillet, the Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and mustard. Bring to a gentle boil and add the cornstarch mixture. Return the meatballs to the pan, reduce the heat to low, simmer for 10 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through sauce is thick, use more beef stock as needed if the sauce is too thick.
- Serve meatballs and the gravy over pasta and sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley.
Notes
Only thing pricey here is the ground beef. At about 250 Baht/kilo, this comes out to about 75 cents per serving for 10 servings. Great value.
Shortcuts: Seasoned Breadcrumbs, Tomato Ketchup.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs or Stuffing
This is a straight forward shortcut recipe if you need just plain breadcrumbs OR seasoned breadcrumbs or stuffing. I have made this dozens of times for both seasoned breadcrumbs and for plain croutons to make make homemade stuffing. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 8 slices white bread
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, Shortcut
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Mix together the salt, Italian seasoning, onion and garlic powders in a small bowl if needing seasoned croutons or crumbs.
- Cube the bread and spread out on the baking sheet, sprinkle on the seasoning mixture. Place in the preheated oven. You need to pay attention to the bread now.
- When the bread cubes are about half toasted, remove and use your hands to toss the bread cubes around on the sheet, place back in the oven.
- When the bread is nicely toasted, remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool.
- Now you just made toasted croutons for use in stuffing, OR you can crush them in your hands to make breadcrumbs (no seasoning) or seasoned breadcrumbs for use in other recipes.
Notes
Shortcut: Italian Seasoning.
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
- Best-ever Meat Loaf.
- Crispy Sardines & Garlic Mayo, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Pasta with Sardines II.
- Mackerel Loaf, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Salmon Casserole, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Baked Ranch Chicken.
- Salisbury Steak with Mushrooms.
- Kielbasa Pasta Casserole, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Giant Meatball II.
- Giant Meatball I.
- Creamy Lemon Chicken Piccata Meatballs, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Broken Meatball Spaghetti, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Garlic Baked Fish.
- Creamy Ham & Egg Casserole.
- Fish in Coconut Milk, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Scottish Lorne Sausage.
- Irish Sausage.
- English Bangers, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Daikon Cakes.
- Broccoli & Ham Cheese Casserole.
- Fried Oysters, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Tuna Loaf, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Cherry Tomato Pasta, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Crock Pot Chicken & Rice.
- Salmon Loaf I.
- Oven Fried Fish.
- Oyster Casserole, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Minced Chicken Oven Dish.
- Real Swiss Steak.
- Braised Lamb Shanks with Jarlserg.
- Baked Corned Beef Burgers.
Spinach & Pasta Casserole
Very easy to make and it is really delicious! This makes a lot! I made this on 20 Aug 2016. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 500 grams minced pork, OR ground beef, OR ground chicken
- 1 can tomato pasta sauce, OR make from a shortcut listed on this site
- 125 grams Cream cheese, softened, this is 1/2 a standard block
- 500 grams dry Penne pasta, OR any bite size pasta
- 2 cups spinach, I used frozen that was thawed, perfect
- 400 grams Mozzarella Cheese, shredded, this is 2 standard blocks
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 C (350 F). Get out 2 baking dishes.
- Cook the pasta in boiling water until just done, drain and place in the baking dish or dishes.
- While the water is heating for the pasta, brown the minced pork (or meat of your choice) in skillet (feel free to use more meats as well), drain any fat. Add the tomato sauce and softened cream cheese that has been cut into cubes, and the thyme, season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally until the cheese is melted or nearly melted.
- Spoon the meat sauce over the pasta layer in the baking dish or dishes. Then add the spinach over the meat sauce.
- Now layer the shredded cheese over the spinach. One block of cheese per dish.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
Minced pork is about 62 Baht/500 grams. The Cream cheese is 60 Baht for half of a 250 gram block, and the Mozzarella cheese is about 280 Baht for two 200 gram blocks. Make the tomato sauce from paste for greater savings. This comes out to about $1.20 per serving for 10 servings. Using chicken this would be less, using beef would be more.
Shortcut: Tomato Sauce.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
