Author Archive
Healthy Pancake & Smoothie
Provided by a good friend of mine, this is a single serving that is nutritious and healthy, perfect for after a long bike ride. For more servings, just adjust the serving size and the recipe will adjust for you.
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
Pancake
- 5-6 okra, good sized, trimmed, sliced
- 1 cup soy flour, fine organic
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Chaat Masala
- salt and pepper, to taste
Smoothie
- ½ fresh pineapple
- 1 tablespoon raw honey
- 1 tablespoon Chia seeds
Instructions
Pancake
- Mix together soy flour, baking powder, Chaat Masala, and 1 egg in a small bowl, season to taste with salt and pepper, add water to get the desired pancake mix consistency. Add sliced okra and mix.
- Heat a non-stick pan with a slight splash of olive oil to medium heat. Pour in the pancake mixture, after a few minutes, watch for bubbles to appear on the top and check the bottom, when golden brown on the bottom, carefully flip the pancake.
- When golden brown on the bottom, place pancake on a plate.
Smoothie
- Add to your blender, ½ a fresh pineapple, raw honey, and Chia seeds, blend until smooth.
- Pour into a large glass and serve with the pancake. A mild tomato based hot sauce pairs well with the pancake.
Notes
Healthy and nutritious. Easily under $1 per serving.
Tuna (actually Yellowtail not Tuna)
Tuna is about as popular as chicken. I am not talking the tuna steaks or fillets, think canned tuna. This recipe is about making "homemade tuna" but without the cans and without tuna. In Tesco and fresh markets, yellowtail is very common, inexpensive, and tastes very much like tuna, but normally sold as whole fish. What this recipe is talking about is the smaller, 14-16 inch whole yellowtail fish one can buy in Tesco. This is a base recipe to get the "tuna" into a recipe usable state. There is no set quantities for this, if you have not done this before, this is very easy, just start with one fish and see how that goes. I have made this many times and when I do this again, I will take step by step photos, and revise the recipe to a more friendlier format.
Ingredients
- 1 whole yellowtail fish, average size is about 14-16 inches
Instructions
- Clean the fish by gutting and rinse the cavity, no need to scrub every part as that will not be used or even touched. There is no need to remove the head, fins, or skin, these will not be used.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil, once boiling add the fish. Cook for about 20 minutes, the meat will start separate from the backbone and will flake easily with a fork.
- When the fish is cooked through, remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let sit for about 20-30 minutes.
- Once cooled, remove the fish from the water using a large wire scoop and place on a plate.
- Using forks, pull back the skin and away from the meat. Then hold the tail and insert a fork near the tail area pointing towards the head and simply separate that side of meat from the backbone, flip over the tuna and do the same thing on the other side, discard the bones, head, and skin. Now you will have 2 nice big pieces of meat.
- Now you have to remove the ribs, just use a fork and and lift the ribs out of the meat. There are no pin bones in this fish.
- Now use the forks and chunk up the meat a little or a lot depending on what a recipe calls for. Place in a bowl and cover and refrigerate until used, This should last refrigerated for up 3 days. This makes several cans of tuna.
- See, that was easy! You have fresh cooked "tuna", material for your compost pile, and no cans involved, all it takes is some time and effort on your part.
Notes
One average size can of tuna is approximately 1/2 cup. Some cans are smaller, some cans are larger, go with 1/2 cup per can, but with tuna, go a little extra as well, no one is going to complain. I have adjusted the tuna recipes on the site to reflect using this recipe as an alternative to canned. Remember the rule, 1/2 cup fresh "tuna" is about 1 can of tuna.
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
- Creamed Tuna on Toast, made it, GO-TO recipe,
- One-Pot Tuna Rice.
- Cheesy Tuna-Vegetable Chowder.
- Tuna Bake.
- Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower, Tuna, and Egyptian Roumy Cheese.
- Tuna Patties.
- Tuna Casserole I.
- Tuna Casserole II.
- Mac & Cheese, Slow Cooker Style I.
- Macaroni Salad, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- White Bean & Tuna Salad, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Tuna Casserole IV, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Tuna Loaf, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Tuna Salad, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Tuna & Rice (Rice Cooker).
Basic Lasagna
I have made this recipe many times now and it is delicious. Lasagna can be intimidating, but following a few shortcuts and you can make a tasty and delicious meal, that serves a lot! Many recipes call for the meat sauce as ground beef and Italian sausage, I am going to make the Italian sausage as I cook ground pork. Cottage cheese can be expensive if store bought, I am going to use the shortcut listed on this site. The most expensive part will be the Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Not a $1 meal but you can feed a crowd. I made this on 10 April 2016 and took the photos. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
For the Meat Sauce
- 1 kilo ground pork, or ground beef, or half and half, (2 lbs)
- 1 can whole tomatoes, drained and chopped, keep the juice
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 6 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
To Assemble
- 1 package lasagna noodles, the oven ready type, you will not use all of them
- 400 grams Mozzarella Cheese, shredded, (14 oz)
- 150 grams Parmesan cheese, shredded, (5 oz)
- 4 cups Cottage cheese, (Shortcut)
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
Instructions
Meat Sauce
- Add a splash of olive oil to a large pot and heat, add onion and garlic, when translucent, add the meat and spices and mix well with the spatula (you are making a cheater Italian sausage. When cooked through and no longer pink, drain the fat, I use a colander for this, then return to the pot.
- Add the tomato paste and the chopped tomatoes, and about half of the tomato juice. On a light simmer, cook for about 20-30 minutes covered. If the sauce is too thick, add a bit of tomato juice retained from the can of tomatoes, not too much though. Adjust the sauce for salt and sugar during the cooking.
to Assemble
- Preheat your oven to 200 C (390 F). Get out a 9x13 baking dish.
- Now, take out a small handful of Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese and set aside, this is for the final layer. OR, as I do, I just use shred another 200 gram block of Mozzarella and add additional grated Parmesan cheese for use on the top.
- Mix the cottage cheese, remaining Mozzerella and Parmesan together with the beaten eggs and spices. If making the cottage cheese from the shortcut on my site, make 4 cups, meaning 4 liters of milk, vinegar stays the say in the recipe.
- Spoon just enough sauce into the bottom of the baking dish to cover the bottom. Then place the following layers:
- Noodles, you can overlap slightly, 1/3 of the cheese mixture. 1/3 of the meat sauce. Repeat with noodles, 1/3 the cheese, and 1/3 the meat sauce, repeat again with noodles, 1/3 cheese, and 1/3 meat sauce. Now sprinkle on the retained Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses that you set aside. Photo shows the first layer added.
- Bake for 30 minutes, if getting dark, remove, if still light colored, continue for 40 minutes. Photo shows the completed dish before going into the oven.
- Here is a lasagna I made for friends in Dec 2018, topped with 12 slices of Provolone, before baking.
- IMPORTANT, after removing from the oven, this needs to rest and cool a bit, as right out of the oven you have 200 degree C cheese lava! Let it rest and it will firm up a bit as well.
- Cut into squares, serve with a salad or garlic bread to extend this meal. Enjoy.
Notes
Minced pork is about 112 Baht/kilo. Mozzarella cheese will run about 145 Baht/200 grams. Will need at least 2 blocks for 290 Baht. Parmesan will run about about 180 Baht/125 grams, will need 2 packs for 360 Baht. For the Cottage cheese, I cannot stress this enough, make it yourself from the shortcut listed on the site, this will work out to about 220 Baht.
This works out to about $1.70 per meal per person, over all, not bad! This is well below what you would find in any restaurant! The beauty of this dish, is that you made it yourself, it takes an effort and time spent in the kitchen, but the taste is well worth it, and you know exactly what is in it.
Shortcut: Cottage Cheese.
Variant: 1. Top the entire lasagna with a layer of sliced Provolone, Gouda, or Edam, yummy!
Family recipe I have been using for years.
Baked Broccoli Tots
I like broccoli, this looks like a great recipe, a must try.
Ingredients
- 2 cups broccoli, uncooked
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup onion, diced
- 1/3 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
- 2/3 cup breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons parsely, OR cilantro, OR rosemary, etc
- salt, to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200 C. Grease a baking sheet with a thin layer of butter and set aside.
- Blanch the broccoli in boiling water for 1 minute then remove and shock with cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain well.
- Chop broccoli finely and mix thoroughly with the egg, onions, cheddar, breadcrumbs, and seasoning. Scoop about 1 1/2 tablespoons of mix using a ice-cream scoop or your hands and gently press between your hands into a firm ball then shape into a tater-tot shape. It helps to rinse your hands after every few tots to keep them from sticking onto your hands. Next, Place on your prepared baking sheet.
- Bake until golden brown and crispy, 18-24 minutes, turning half way. Remove from the oven and enjoy hot with ketchup, sriracha, ranch dressing, or your favorite dipping sauce!
Notes
This is low cost since little cheese is used.
Adapted from an internet recipe, suggested by good friend, Craig Hohnstein.
United States.
United States.
Blueberry Cream Cheese Egg Rolls
These sound really good, a must try for me.
Ingredients
- 250 grams Cream cheese, this is one block, softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups frozen blueberries
- 500 grams egg roll skins
Instructions
- Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer. Mix in powdered sugar and vanilla, and beat again until smooth. Mix in blueberries.
- Fill egg roll skins with the mixture, and fold as directed on the package.
- Fry until golden brown and serve.
Notes
Not sure how to price this until I make it, the cheese alone is 120 Baht, so estimating 4 servings, this would be about 89 cents per serving.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Garland Davis, US Navy Cook (Ret).
United States.
United States.
Recovery Stew
Recipe was inspired from a good friend in Phuket, Dave Williams, I tried to guess the ingredients of a stew he made from scratch, I was close but not spot on, but both of us agree, this would be a good stew.
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 cup rice, cooked
- 1 can Garbanzo beans, drained, or use dried beans that have been cooked
- 1/4 yellow bell pepper, diced
- 1 clove garlic, smashed and chopped
- 1/4 green bell pepper, diced
- 4-8 Bird's Eye Chilis, sliced, with seeds
- 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
- black pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoon Chaat Masala, Indian spice, optional
Instructions
- In a large pot, add a splash of olive oil and on medium heat, cook the garlic, then add the chicken until just about done, it will be tender.
- Then add all other ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, add chicken stock as needed to maintain a stew like consistency. Serve.
Notes
The chicken will be 50 Baht or under. All other ingredients minimal. Well under $1 per person per meal.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Dave Williams.
Thailand.
Thailand.
Recovery Vegan Stew
Original recipe from my good friend, Dave Williams, Thailand, "I call this 'Recovery Stew' because it is high in carbs with a good percentage of amino acids (protein) and a healthy mix of a lot of different minerals. There are, additionally, a lot of antioxidants in these ingredients, so it helps your body to recover from exercise by both replacing what you've used and by adding nutrients that you might not have had in your system." Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 1 cup organic Jasmin rice, cooked
- 1 can Garbanzo beans (chickpeas), do not drain, or 1½ cups cooked with broth, Shortcut
- ¼ yellow bell pepper, diced
- 6 medium okra, sliced in large pieces
- 1 clove garlic, smashed and chopped
- 1 tablespoon Goji berries
- 1 tablespoon Flax seed
- 1 tablespoon Black Sesame seed
- 3 tablespoons Golden Mountain Spicy tomato sauce, it is not really that spicy
- sea salt and white pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoon Chaat Masala, Indian spice, optional
Instructions
- Add cooked rice and Garbanzo beans (with liquid from can) to a big pot and cook on low. Cover the pot. Cook for about 15 minutes or so on very low heat. Add additional water as needed to maintain a good stew consistency.
- Add Goji berries, bell pepper, okra, garlic, and tomato sauce. Stir and cook for another 5 - 10 minutes on low (covered pot).
- Add the remaining ingredients and stir, you can cook for a minute or so, but its best not to cook the milled seeds so you can retain the maximum nutritional value from them. Remove from heat, cover the pot, and let sit for a few minutes. Serve.
Notes
Easily under $1 per person per meal.
Shortcut: Chickpeas (Pressure Cooker).
Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak I
Easy, straight forward recipe, and makes its own gravy, nothing could be easier. This is a must try. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 4-6 patties lean ground beef, OR minced pork, OR ground chicken
- 1 tablespoon steak seasoning, OR you can make from a shortcut listed on this site, see Step 1
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 package button mushrooms, sliced
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups beef stock, use fresh or from powder
Instructions
- Place a layer of formed patties on the bottom of the slow cooker. Sprinkle on some steak seasoning. Add a layer of sliced mushrooms. Repeat adding the next layer of patties, steak seasoning, and mushrooms. Note about the steak seasoning, you can use steak seasoning, or you can just season the patties with salt, pepper, garlic powder, a pinch of paprika, and a pinch of ground coriander.
- Mix the onions and flour in the beef stock, pour that into the pot. Cover and cook on Low setting for 6-8 hours. Serve with mashed potatoes and a vegetable for a complete meal.
Notes
Beef will run between 150 to 200 Baht/kilo. If you cannot find ground beef, get a large chunk and mince yourself. Or you can use minced pork or even chicken would would work, but for chicken, use chicken stock instead of beef stock. 500 grams of meat should make 4 nice patties, 1 kilo of meat should make 8 patties. Make 6 equal size patties from a kilo of meat and call it good. Going with 200 Baht/kilo, and 6 patties, comes in at right about $1 per meal for 6 people. All other ingredients are minimal.
Shortcut: Steak Seasoning.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Montreal Steak Seasoning
Basic steak seasoning. Use as a rub on steaks or chicken, or just sprinkle it on.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt, OR 1 tablespoon of regular salt
- 2 tablespoons ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Mix everything and store in an airtight container. Use as a rub or just sprinkle it on.
Butter Ranch Chicken
Three ingredients, easy enough and sounds excellent, a must try for me. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
- 1 packet dry ranch dressing mix, OR you can make from a shortcut listed on this site
- 1/4 block of butter, this is the standard 228 gram block, this is 1/4 cup butter, or 1/2 a stick
Instructions
- Place the chicken breasts in your slow cooker, sprinkle with the dressing mix. Cut the butter into 8 pieces and place on top of the dressing mix.
- Cook on Low setting for 4 to 6 hours. Check at 4 hours, juices should run clear, meat should be very tender. Serve with corn on the cob and maybe some yard beans for a nice meal.
Notes
The butter and liquid from the chicken is enough for the slow cooker.
Chicken breasts, boneless and skinless is 85 Baht/kilo, bone in and skin is about 63 Baht/kilo. Going with 85 Baht for 4 breasts, for 4 meals, this is about 65 cents per meal.
Shortcut: Ranch Dressing Mix.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
